Scientists in New Zealand have discovered a “ghost shark”, a rare type of fish that lives in the depths of the ocean.
The newborn shark, also known as a chimaera, was found on Tuesday at a depth of nearly a mile underwater near the country’s South Island.
Researchers from the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said that the discovery of a younger shark was exceptionally rare.
Their embryos develop in egg capsules placed on the bottom of the sea, feeding on a bud until they are ready to hatch, NIWA said. Fisheries scientist Dr Brit Finucci, who was part of the team that made the discovery, told the BBC: Deep sharks are generally hard to find and, like ghost sharks in particular, tend to be quite cryptic. So we don’t see them very often.
“You can tell this ghost shark has just hatched because its belly is full of egg yolk. It’s pretty amazing. Most deep-sea ghost sharks are known adult specimens; newborns are infrequently reported, so we know very little about them.”
He added that the younger ghost sharks have “distinctive color patterns” and they look different from their adult counterparts.
“Finding this ghost shark will help us better understand the biology and ecology of this mysterious group of deep-sea fish,” he said.
Further tests and genetic analyzes will be carried out to determine the exact species, said Dr. Finucci.