MONITORING (SW) – Scientists have discovered a new species of ghost shark that lives in deep ocean waters near Australia and New Zealand.
The Australasian Narrow-nosed Spookfish, or Harriotta avia, was found in the Chatham Rise, an area of ocean floor off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, by researchers from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
Scientists had previously believed the spookfish was part of a single globally distributed species, but discovered genetic and morphological differences, NIWA said in a statement Tuesday.
A deep water animal, the ghost shark is scientifically known as chimaera and is closely related to sharks and rays.
They are cartilaginous fish – having skeletons primarily made up of cartilage – and their embryos grow in egg capsules laid on the sea floor, and feed off egg yolk until they hatch.
Once hatched, they feed off crustaceans such as shrimp and molluscs, according to NIWA.
“Harriotta avia is unique due to its elongated, narrow and depressed snout; long, slender trunk; large eyes; and very long, broad pectoral fins. It is a lovely chocolate brown colour,” said Brit Finucci, a fisheries scientist at NIWA, in the statement.
“Ghost sharks like this one are largely confined to the ocean floor, living in depths of up to 2,600m (8,530 feet). Their habitat makes them hard to study and monitor, meaning we don’t know a lot about their biology or threat status, but it makes discoveries like this even more exciting,” she added.
Finucci said that she named the new species after her grandmother.
“Avia means grandmother in Latin; I wanted to give this nod to her because she proudly supported me through my career as a scientist,” said Finucci.
“Chimaeras are also rather ancient relatives – the grandmas and grandpas – of fish and I thought the name was well suited.”
In February 2022, Finucci was part of a team that discovered a newly-hatched ghost shark which they said could inform their knowledge of the “mysterious” creature.
The ghost shark was found at a depth of around 1,200 meters (about 3,900 feet) on the Chatham Rise, according to CNN news agency.
“We don’t actually know a lot about ghost sharks,” Finucci told CNN at the time.
“What we do know mostly comes from adult specimens. So it’s very rare and very uncommon to find juveniles of a lot of these species, so that’s why I got quite excited.”
