New Shark Species Discovered in Indian Waters

Mustelus manglorensis, a new gummy shark species, was discovered from a depth of 500 metres off the Mangalore coast in December 2010. 84 species of fishes were found in the Indian waters including 15 shark varieties like 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. The presence of a shark species new to science and 84 other deep-sea dwellers new to the Indian waters were brought out by a stock assessment of deep sea fishes of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone and the central Indian Ocean.

The assessment carried out by a research team led by B. Madhusoodana Kurup, Director, School of Industrial Fisheries of the Cochin University of Science and Technology included researchers M. Harikrishnan, S. Venu, Sharin Sonia, A.V. Deepu, Ginsen Joseph and Diana. The study supported by the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology of the Ministry of Earth Sciences revealed that Indian waters are capable of supporting rich and diverse deep sea angler fish, which uses the fleshy lobe on its head to catch its prey . The study also recorded the presence of six new species coming under smooth, double, dicerateid and blackmouth angler fish categories found in a depth of 500 to 800 mts. The analysis revealed that the Kozhikode-Mangalore region was rich in deep sea fish biodiversity as 121 species were collected from the region. The Kozhikode-Mangalore region was followed by the Kochi-Kozhikode belt with the presence of 95 species.

The samples for the study 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.