Hybrid Shark Located in Australian Waters
Posted by Ryan on January 3rd, 2012
The world’s first hybrid shark was discovered off the coast of Australia containing both common and Australian black tip DNA, with up to 20% percent of the population sampled being hybrids. Scientist speculate that the hybridization increases the range that the sharks can survive and could be a result of changing sea temperatures.
The mating of the local Australian black-tip shark with its global counterpart, the common black-tip, was an unprecedented discovery with implications for the entire shark world, said lead researcher Jess Morgan.
“It’s very surprising because no one’s ever seen shark hybrids before, this is not a common occurrence by any stretch of the imagination,” Morgan, from the University of Queensland, told AFP.
“This is evolution in action.”
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January 4th, 2012 at 12:34 am
Go Team Shark!!!
January 8th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Okay, so we now have pizzly bears in Canada (polar bear/grizzly hybrids) and hybrid black-tip sharks, both brought to you by a melting ice shelf.
They both are also top-level predators, and I have it on good authority they like to attend tea parties for snacks. They get a kick out of munching on those who don’t believe they could exist.