The presence of a shark species new to science and 84 other deep-sea dwellers new to the Indian waters have been brought out by a stock assessment of deep sea fishes of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone and the central Indian Ocean, according to researchers.
Mustelus manglorensis, a new gummy shark species, was discovered from a depth of 500 metres off the Mangalore coast. According to researchers, this is the second gummy shark that has been reported from the Indian Ocean against the 19 known worldwide.
Of the 84 species of fishes found in the Indian waters, 15 were shark varieties, including Baloon, Cat, Lantern and Gulpers. Researchers have also confirmed the presence of 10 species of eels belonging to Conger, Cusk and Snipe families from the study region. Most of the species were found inhabiting the sea at a depth beyond 500 metres, researchers said.
The assessment was carried out by a research team led by B. Madhusoodana Kurup, Director, School of Industrial Fisheries of the Cochin University of Science and Technology. The team included researchers M. Harikrishnan, S. Venu, Sharin Sonia, A.V. Deepu, Ginsen Joseph and Diana. The study was supported by the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
The assessment also revealed that the Indian waters supported rich and diverse deep sea angler fish, which uses the fleshy lobe on its head to catch its prey. The presence of six new species coming under ‘smooth,' ‘double,' ‘dicerateid' and ‘blackmouth' angler fish categories was also recorded. Most of them were found occupying the ocean space between a depth of 500 and 800 metres.
The samples were collected from the exploratory deep sea fishery cruises on board the ocean research vessel Sagar Sampada. Fishing was carried out in depths between 200 and 1100 metres from the Wadge bank in the south and Ratnagiri in the north along the south west coast during the last 10 years. Fishing operations were carried out in 220 stations with high speed demersal fish and shrimp trawls, researchers said.
The analysis has revealed that the Kozhikode-Mangalore region was rich in deep sea fish biodiversity as 121 species were collected from there. This was followed by the Kochi-Kozhikode belt with the presence of 95 species. In the Kozhikode- Mangalore belt, the richest fish biodiversity was found at depths ranging between 500 and 800 metres, they said.
Morphological features
The morphological features of some of the species identified included transparent or black body, poorly developed muscles, absence of gas bladder and greatly reduced eyes. Some of the species possessed expandable stomachs. In some other fishes, jaws were either absent or present with huge hinged jaws with long and inward pointing teeth, they said.
The origin of many species could be tracked to the tropical regions of the Pacific and the Atlantic, especially to South African coast, Madagascar Bridge, Mozambique, Gulf of Aden, Canary Islands and the Mediterranean Sea. Many species were found sharing similar habitats with their counterparts in other oceans, they said.
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article1011567.ece?homepage=true
Showing posts with label deep sea fish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deep sea fish. Show all posts
Thursday, December 30, 2010
New species of fishes found in Indian waters
The presence of a shark species new to science and 84 other deep-sea dwellers new to the Indian waters have been brought out by a stock assessment of deep sea fishes of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone and the central Indian Ocean, according to researchers.
Mustelus manglorensis, a new gummy shark species, was discovered from a depth of 500 metres off the Mangalore coast. According to researchers, this is the second gummy shark that has been reported from the Indian Ocean against the 19 known worldwide.
Of the 84 species of fishes found in the Indian waters, 15 were shark varieties, including Baloon, Cat, Lantern and Gulpers. Researchers have also confirmed the presence of 10 species of eels belonging to Conger, Cusk and Snipe families from the study region. Most of the species were found inhabiting the sea at a depth beyond 500 metres, researchers said.
The assessment was carried out by a research team led by B. Madhusoodana Kurup, Director, School of Industrial Fisheries of the Cochin University of Science and Technology. The team included researchers M. Harikrishnan, S. Venu, Sharin Sonia, A.V. Deepu, Ginsen Joseph and Diana. The study was supported by the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
The assessment also revealed that the Indian waters supported rich and diverse deep sea angler fish, which uses the fleshy lobe on its head to catch its prey. The presence of six new species coming under ‘smooth,' ‘double,' ‘dicerateid' and ‘blackmouth' angler fish categories was also recorded. Most of them were found occupying the ocean space between a depth of 500 and 800 metres.
The samples were collected from the exploratory deep sea fishery cruises on board the ocean research vessel Sagar Sampada. Fishing was carried out in depths between 200 and 1100 metres from the Wadge bank in the south and Ratnagiri in the north along the south west coast during the last 10 years. Fishing operations were carried out in 220 stations with high speed demersal fish and shrimp trawls, researchers said.
The analysis has revealed that the Kozhikode-Mangalore region was rich in deep sea fish biodiversity as 121 species were collected from there. This was followed by the Kochi-Kozhikode belt with the presence of 95 species. In the Kozhikode- Mangalore belt, the richest fish biodiversity was found at depths ranging between 500 and 800 metres, they said.
Morphological features
The morphological features of some of the species identified included transparent or black body, poorly developed muscles, absence of gas bladder and greatly reduced eyes. Some of the species possessed expandable stomachs. In some other fishes, jaws were either absent or present with huge hinged jaws with long and inward pointing teeth, they said.
The origin of many species could be tracked to the tropical regions of the Pacific and the Atlantic, especially to South African coast, Madagascar Bridge, Mozambique, Gulf of Aden, Canary Islands and the Mediterranean Sea. Many species were found sharing similar habitats with their counterparts in other oceans, they said.
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article1011567.ece?homepage=true
Mustelus manglorensis, a new gummy shark species, was discovered from a depth of 500 metres off the Mangalore coast. According to researchers, this is the second gummy shark that has been reported from the Indian Ocean against the 19 known worldwide.
Of the 84 species of fishes found in the Indian waters, 15 were shark varieties, including Baloon, Cat, Lantern and Gulpers. Researchers have also confirmed the presence of 10 species of eels belonging to Conger, Cusk and Snipe families from the study region. Most of the species were found inhabiting the sea at a depth beyond 500 metres, researchers said.
The assessment was carried out by a research team led by B. Madhusoodana Kurup, Director, School of Industrial Fisheries of the Cochin University of Science and Technology. The team included researchers M. Harikrishnan, S. Venu, Sharin Sonia, A.V. Deepu, Ginsen Joseph and Diana. The study was supported by the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
The assessment also revealed that the Indian waters supported rich and diverse deep sea angler fish, which uses the fleshy lobe on its head to catch its prey. The presence of six new species coming under ‘smooth,' ‘double,' ‘dicerateid' and ‘blackmouth' angler fish categories was also recorded. Most of them were found occupying the ocean space between a depth of 500 and 800 metres.
The samples were collected from the exploratory deep sea fishery cruises on board the ocean research vessel Sagar Sampada. Fishing was carried out in depths between 200 and 1100 metres from the Wadge bank in the south and Ratnagiri in the north along the south west coast during the last 10 years. Fishing operations were carried out in 220 stations with high speed demersal fish and shrimp trawls, researchers said.
The analysis has revealed that the Kozhikode-Mangalore region was rich in deep sea fish biodiversity as 121 species were collected from there. This was followed by the Kochi-Kozhikode belt with the presence of 95 species. In the Kozhikode- Mangalore belt, the richest fish biodiversity was found at depths ranging between 500 and 800 metres, they said.
Morphological features
The morphological features of some of the species identified included transparent or black body, poorly developed muscles, absence of gas bladder and greatly reduced eyes. Some of the species possessed expandable stomachs. In some other fishes, jaws were either absent or present with huge hinged jaws with long and inward pointing teeth, they said.
The origin of many species could be tracked to the tropical regions of the Pacific and the Atlantic, especially to South African coast, Madagascar Bridge, Mozambique, Gulf of Aden, Canary Islands and the Mediterranean Sea. Many species were found sharing similar habitats with their counterparts in other oceans, they said.
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article1011567.ece?homepage=true
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Warming waters send tropical fish species south
Tue 24 Aug 2010
Scientists from various research organisations report that climate change is turning the environment upside-down, with fish species from Queensland waters migrating south to escape the ever warmer waters.
Species such as groper, tiger sharks and even warm-water fish like coral trout are becoming more frequently found in Tasmania.
Scientists also have recorded yellowtail kingfish and snapper heading south, while north Queensland barramundi and threadfin salmon are being caught in Moreton Bay off Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
Scientists say it shows how climate change is redistributing species. They have identified 45 species – including 30 per cent of inshore Tasmanian fish families – relocating.
Others are warm temperate surf species such as silver drummer, rock blackfish and rock flathead, and warm-water tuna and billfishes.
Australian National Fish Collection curator Peter Last said yesterday up to 19 species or 5 per cent of Tasmanian coastal fish such as the maugean skate had declined or were possibly locally extinct.
'At the same time many warm temperate species have moved in,' Dr Last said. 'The problem is that in southern Tasmania, shallow cold-water species have nowhere to escape warmer conditions.'
Dr Last said he was surprised when a coral trout, a Great Barrier Reef species, was caught at Port Arthur.
'I didn't believe this guy when he said he had caught one until he brought it in,' Dr Last said. 'We also had a big Queensland groper sneak up behind people on a dive off Bicheno. We get great whites so it scared the heck out of them. I also had an aquarium collector with a heap of Queensland species off Eden (NSW).'
Dr Last said odd northern species had always travelled down the east Australian current, but it now extended 350km
further south than about 65 years ago. Water temperatures had risen 2°C.
'Species like groper and tiger sharks are normally not seen much south of Sydney and tropical fish that turn up in summer in Botany Bay and then die off, are persisting,' he said.
CSIRO oceanographer Ken Ridgeway said the current was strong to about Eden in the 1940s but powerful flows now continued through to Tasmania because of a switch in winds generated by changing ozone levels and warming.
Wildlife Preservation Society president Simon Baltais said evidence of dramatic species moves was mounting.
'The tragedy is scientists have been warning of this for about three decades yet nothing has been done by governments at a policy level,' he said. 'It's surprising how many fools believe (climate change) sceptics despite evidence being so overwhelming.'
Dr Last said it was logical to expect species such as barramundi and king salmon to increase in Moreton Bay and he expected survey work near Perth, WA, to show major shifts.
Dr Last, the CSIRO and Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute have published a paper on the changes in the journal 'Global Ecology and Biogeography'.
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=73736&refre=y&ntid=0
Scientists from various research organisations report that climate change is turning the environment upside-down, with fish species from Queensland waters migrating south to escape the ever warmer waters.
Species such as groper, tiger sharks and even warm-water fish like coral trout are becoming more frequently found in Tasmania.
Scientists also have recorded yellowtail kingfish and snapper heading south, while north Queensland barramundi and threadfin salmon are being caught in Moreton Bay off Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
Scientists say it shows how climate change is redistributing species. They have identified 45 species – including 30 per cent of inshore Tasmanian fish families – relocating.
Others are warm temperate surf species such as silver drummer, rock blackfish and rock flathead, and warm-water tuna and billfishes.
Australian National Fish Collection curator Peter Last said yesterday up to 19 species or 5 per cent of Tasmanian coastal fish such as the maugean skate had declined or were possibly locally extinct.
'At the same time many warm temperate species have moved in,' Dr Last said. 'The problem is that in southern Tasmania, shallow cold-water species have nowhere to escape warmer conditions.'
Dr Last said he was surprised when a coral trout, a Great Barrier Reef species, was caught at Port Arthur.
'I didn't believe this guy when he said he had caught one until he brought it in,' Dr Last said. 'We also had a big Queensland groper sneak up behind people on a dive off Bicheno. We get great whites so it scared the heck out of them. I also had an aquarium collector with a heap of Queensland species off Eden (NSW).'
Dr Last said odd northern species had always travelled down the east Australian current, but it now extended 350km
further south than about 65 years ago. Water temperatures had risen 2°C.
'Species like groper and tiger sharks are normally not seen much south of Sydney and tropical fish that turn up in summer in Botany Bay and then die off, are persisting,' he said.
CSIRO oceanographer Ken Ridgeway said the current was strong to about Eden in the 1940s but powerful flows now continued through to Tasmania because of a switch in winds generated by changing ozone levels and warming.
Wildlife Preservation Society president Simon Baltais said evidence of dramatic species moves was mounting.
'The tragedy is scientists have been warning of this for about three decades yet nothing has been done by governments at a policy level,' he said. 'It's surprising how many fools believe (climate change) sceptics despite evidence being so overwhelming.'
Dr Last said it was logical to expect species such as barramundi and king salmon to increase in Moreton Bay and he expected survey work near Perth, WA, to show major shifts.
Dr Last, the CSIRO and Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute have published a paper on the changes in the journal 'Global Ecology and Biogeography'.
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=73736&refre=y&ntid=0
Thursday, July 8, 2010
New batfish species found under U.S. Gulf oil spill
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered two previously unknown species of bottom-dwelling fish in the Gulf of Mexico, living right in the area affected by the BP oil spill.
Researchers identified new species of pancake batfishes, a flat fish rarely seen because of the dark depths they favour. They are named for the clumsy way they "walk" along the sea bottom, like a bat crawling.
"One of the fishes that we describe is completely restricted to the oil spill area," John Sparks of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said in a statement released on Thursday.
"If we are still finding new species of fishes in the Gulf, imagine how much diversity, especially microdiversity, is out there that we do not know about."
Writing in the Journal of Fish Biology, Sparks and his colleagues named the species as Halieutichthys intermedius and H. bispinosus. A third already known species called H. aculeatus also only lives in waters affected by the spill, they said.
Pancake batfishes have round, flat bodies with giant heads and mouths they can thrust forward. They use arm-like fins to drag themselves along the bottom and a modified dorsal fin excretes fluid to lure prey.
Sparks said the three species had been considered just one species, but his team found distinct differences.
"These discoveries underscore the potential loss of undocumented biodiversity that a disaster of this scale may portend," he said.
BP aims to plug the well late this month or in August.
The well has pumped millions of gallons (litres) of oil into the Gulf, coating shorelines and animals and having as yet unknown effects on creatures living in deep waters.
It threatens to devastate the Gulf region's multibillion-dollar fishing and tourist industries.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Vicki Allen)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
VIP treatment for jet-setting sharks
By Penny Timms
29 June 2009
There will be two unusual additions to the passenger list of a flight from North Queensland to Melbourne next week.
The final preparations are being made to fly two leopard sharks from Townsville to the Melbourne aquarium.
They will be driven from the Townsville aquarium to Cairns and then put on a flight to Victoria next week.
Stephen Menzies from Reef HQ says there is a lot of work to do before then, including completing a self-sustaining tank.
He says to maintain water quality the sharks will not be fed for about two days before the flight.
"That's always fun when you unload some sharks after a long transport; that first feed, because they do feed with a bit of passion," he said.
The sharks are part of a captive breeding program designed to cut the number of animals taken from the wild.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/29/2939672.htm
29 June 2009
There will be two unusual additions to the passenger list of a flight from North Queensland to Melbourne next week.
The final preparations are being made to fly two leopard sharks from Townsville to the Melbourne aquarium.
They will be driven from the Townsville aquarium to Cairns and then put on a flight to Victoria next week.
Stephen Menzies from Reef HQ says there is a lot of work to do before then, including completing a self-sustaining tank.
He says to maintain water quality the sharks will not be fed for about two days before the flight.
"That's always fun when you unload some sharks after a long transport; that first feed, because they do feed with a bit of passion," he said.
The sharks are part of a captive breeding program designed to cut the number of animals taken from the wild.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/29/2939672.htm
Monday, June 7, 2010
NY couple weds in shark tank, wearing wet suits
7 June 2010
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A New York couple has taken the plunge inside a shark tank.
April Pignataro and Michael Curry were lowered in a steel cage into the tank to exchange their wedding vows at Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, N.Y, on Sunday.
She wore a white wet suit; he wore a black one.
The experienced divers spoke their vows into radio headgear transmitted to a minister outside the tank. About 75 guests watched from behind glass.
The tank is part of the Lost City of Atlantis shark exhibit.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbNoQyItOReazqEjzBZ_4ab-lI-AD9G6D6280
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A New York couple has taken the plunge inside a shark tank.
April Pignataro and Michael Curry were lowered in a steel cage into the tank to exchange their wedding vows at Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, N.Y, on Sunday.
She wore a white wet suit; he wore a black one.
The experienced divers spoke their vows into radio headgear transmitted to a minister outside the tank. About 75 guests watched from behind glass.
The tank is part of the Lost City of Atlantis shark exhibit.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbNoQyItOReazqEjzBZ_4ab-lI-AD9G6D6280
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Deep sea fish 'mystery migration' across Pacific Ocean (via Lindsay Selby)
Deep sea fish species found in the north Pacific Ocean have mysteriously been caught in the southwest Atlantic, on the other side of the world.
It is unclear how the animals, a giant rattail grenadier, pelagic eelpout and deep sea squid, travelled so far.
Their discovery 15,000km from their usual home raises the possibility that deep sea currents can transport animals from one polar region to another.
Details are published in the journal Deep Sea Research part I.
"These findings were completely unexpected," says Dr Alexander Arkhipkin of the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department, based in Stanley, on the Falkland Islands in the southwest Atlantic Ocean.
Since 1987, the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department has performed surveys of fish caught by commercial and research fishing trawlers travelling above the Patagonian Shelf and slope around the islands.
Commercial longline catches of Patagonian toothfish have also been examined.
Recently, these catches have brought to the surface animals previously unknown in the southwest Atlantic.
For example, Dr Arkhipkin and colleagues Dr Vladimir Laptikhovsky and Dr Paul Brickle report a 81cm-long grenadier fish belonging to the genus Albatrossia caught by the longline fishery set to catch Patagonian toothfish.
Another deepwater trawl caught a small 15cm-long pelagic eelpout at a depth of 1000m.
Experts have identified this fish as being a member of the slipskin species Lycodapus endemoscotus.
Previously both species were only known from the deepwaters of the north Pacific Ocean.
A small immature 11cm-long north Pacific gonate squid Gonatopsis octopedatus was also recovered from a trawl south of the Falkland Islands.
Genetic analyses confirmed the identification, which is the first time any member of this squid genus has been recorded in the southern hemisphere.
The catches are the first time that such deepwater species have been caught so far from their natural habitat.
All three species habitually live in the deep waters of the north Pacific, at depths greater than 600-1000m.
That makes it extremely unlikely that the fish and squid could have become trapped in ballast water used by ships, and transported around the world.
"We would not expect that relatively slow deepwater fish and squid might travel so far from their common habitats," says Dr Arkhipkin
All three species live above the seafloor, and none of the three are known to habitually migrate, just as tuna and whales do.
Far more likely is that each animal was transported thousands of kilometres by deepwater currents.
These flow south, across the equator, moving past South America underneath another northbound flow called the Humboldt Current.
Finally, this flow mixes with another called the Upper Circumpolar Deep Water to pass through the Drake Passage, whcih separates South America and Antarctica, to the Southwest Atlantic.
Such deep water currents flow slowly, so it may take a few years for a long-lived fish, or even several generations of short-lived fish or squid to migrate the whole way.
Dr Arkhipkin says the catches may force scientists to reevaluate their ideas about the distribution and movements of deepwater species.
Though there is no evidence to support the idea, Dr Arkhipkin speculates that climate change may be influencing the deepwater currents, facilitating the novel spread of such animals.
Deepwater travellers: A) deepwater slipskin and B) gonate squid
Photos: A Arkhipkin
It is unclear how the animals, a giant rattail grenadier, pelagic eelpout and deep sea squid, travelled so far.
Their discovery 15,000km from their usual home raises the possibility that deep sea currents can transport animals from one polar region to another.
An out of place rattail
Details are published in the journal Deep Sea Research part I.
"These findings were completely unexpected," says Dr Alexander Arkhipkin of the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department, based in Stanley, on the Falkland Islands in the southwest Atlantic Ocean.
Since 1987, the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department has performed surveys of fish caught by commercial and research fishing trawlers travelling above the Patagonian Shelf and slope around the islands.
Commercial longline catches of Patagonian toothfish have also been examined.
Recently, these catches have brought to the surface animals previously unknown in the southwest Atlantic.
For example, Dr Arkhipkin and colleagues Dr Vladimir Laptikhovsky and Dr Paul Brickle report a 81cm-long grenadier fish belonging to the genus Albatrossia caught by the longline fishery set to catch Patagonian toothfish.
Another deepwater trawl caught a small 15cm-long pelagic eelpout at a depth of 1000m.
Experts have identified this fish as being a member of the slipskin species Lycodapus endemoscotus.
Previously both species were only known from the deepwaters of the north Pacific Ocean.
A small immature 11cm-long north Pacific gonate squid Gonatopsis octopedatus was also recovered from a trawl south of the Falkland Islands.
Genetic analyses confirmed the identification, which is the first time any member of this squid genus has been recorded in the southern hemisphere.
The catches are the first time that such deepwater species have been caught so far from their natural habitat.
All three species habitually live in the deep waters of the north Pacific, at depths greater than 600-1000m.
That makes it extremely unlikely that the fish and squid could have become trapped in ballast water used by ships, and transported around the world.
"We would not expect that relatively slow deepwater fish and squid might travel so far from their common habitats," says Dr Arkhipkin
All three species live above the seafloor, and none of the three are known to habitually migrate, just as tuna and whales do.
Far more likely is that each animal was transported thousands of kilometres by deepwater currents.
These flow south, across the equator, moving past South America underneath another northbound flow called the Humboldt Current.
Finally, this flow mixes with another called the Upper Circumpolar Deep Water to pass through the Drake Passage, whcih separates South America and Antarctica, to the Southwest Atlantic.
Such deep water currents flow slowly, so it may take a few years for a long-lived fish, or even several generations of short-lived fish or squid to migrate the whole way.
Dr Arkhipkin says the catches may force scientists to reevaluate their ideas about the distribution and movements of deepwater species.
Though there is no evidence to support the idea, Dr Arkhipkin speculates that climate change may be influencing the deepwater currents, facilitating the novel spread of such animals.
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