Identify new shark species in the Atlantic Ocean

Scientists at the Florida Institute of Technology have identified the existence of a new species of shark living in the Atlantic Ocean. To confirm, scientists used genetic testing and named this species "Atlantic 6 shark". This shark is different from the fish in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, it is about 1.82m long.

"We have shown that six species of sharks in the Atlantic are really different from those in the Indian and Pacific oceans at the molecular level, to the extent that we see that they are a different species. although they look very similar if viewed with the naked eye , " said Toby Daly-Engel, Assistant and shark biologist at Florida Institute of Technology.

6 sharks carry in the Atlantic Ocean much smaller than their relatives in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, they can be as long as 4.6m or more.

6-Atlantic sharks have lower teeth like saws and six gills that are the same, like their names, while most sharks usually have only 5 gills.

"With this new classification, the six-Atlantic Atlantic sharks will have a longer chance of surviving. Since there are only two special species, we have a sense of overall variation in the shark population. If you eat one of them, the number of individuals will not be replenished from anywhere in the world, " Daly-Engel said.

The 6-bearing shark is one of the oldest creatures on earth, with an ancestor dating from 250 million years ago, before the dinosaurs.

However, the fact that they reside in the depths of the ocean, sometimes thousands of meters below the surface, makes them particularly difficult to study and identify.

By using 1,310 genetic molecular pairs of two shark mitochondrial genes, the team determined that there are genetic differences between the two 6 shark sharks that carry Atlantic belonging to Hexanchus nakamurai, which are then exchanged. Name the shark species Hexanchus vitulus officially in the Atlantic Ocean.

Their findings have been reported in Marine Biodiversity magazine.

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