Scientists Discover New Species Of Dogfish Shark Off Kerala Coast

Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) scientists have discovered a new species of dogfish shark off Kerala coast.

Various varieties of dogfish, which is a small shark, are in demand for their fins, liver oil and meat and sporadically caught as bycatch by fishermen.

The newly discovered species differs from others by the number of teeth counts, trunk and head heights, fin structure and fin colour, the team that discovered it said in a ZSI journal.

“The new species, Squalus hima, was discovered from samples we collected from a fishing harbour in Kerala close to the Arabian Sea,” team leader ZSI scientist Bineesh KK of the Marine Biology Regional Centre said.

This new species is described based on 13 specimens collected from the southwest coast of India during the surveys conducted up to 1000 metres along the coastline to understand the diversity of deep-sea sharks, he said.

“Taxonomic re-evaluation of the general Squalus in the Indo-Pacific and other regions has revealed many undescribed species that were historically lumped together under a single name,” he said.

ZSI Director Dhriti Banerjee said the survey has been conducted under the Deep Ocean Mission of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.