The shark Apristurus ovicorrugatus was identified as a new species over a decade after the first mystery egg cases were found in a Western Australian museum collection.
A new species of deep-sea shark with bright white eyes has finally been identified, decades after a dead pregnant female of the species was first collected off the coast of Western Australia. The"ghost" shark was initially misidentified, and was only pegged as a new species after scientists took a second look at its bizarre egg cases that had languished in museum storage for years.
While the majority of shark species give birth to live young, the rest are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs. The egg cases — also known as mermaid's purses — often have long tendrils that allow them to attach to seaweed or rocks. For over a decade, the egg case remained a mystery, until scientists found two more sitting in the Australian National Fish Collection, which falls under the CSIRO umbrella.
White and his colleagues then trawled through their collection database to see if any other unidentified Apristurus specimens had been found in the small region where the egg cases had been collected. They eventually found the pregnant female: a 1.5 foot-long shark that had been misidentified as a South China catshark .
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Weird moments from the really weird MTV Movie & TV AwardsThe awards show was definitely affected by the writers' strike
Read more »
Weird and Wild ’90s SUVs You’ve Probably Never Heard OfDigging through history's couch cushions to find some of the rarest, oddest SUVs from the 1990s.
Read more »
Weird and wonderful trains that break the rules | CNNRailway technology is more versatile than you think. Here's a selection of unusual railways that break the rules in order to reach the places other trains can't roll.
Read more »
'We Know There's A Perception Of Asian Dessert Flavors As Weird And Strange'How Mogan Anthony is opening up American palates to Southeast Asian flavors.
Read more »
Weird particle that remembers its past discovered by quantum computerParticles with unusual properties called anyons have long been sought after as a potential building block for advanced quantum computers, and now researchers have found one – using a quantum computer
Read more »