SAN JOSE, Costa Rica: Costa Rican scientists may have discovered a new ghost shark species in Pacific waters near Cabo Blanco and Caño Island, according to AFP.
University of Costa Rica biology professor Arturo Angulo Sibaja said the fish has a shorter snout, a darker colour pattern and a much longer dorsal-fin spine.
Sibaja said the finding marks the only such species known for the Central American coast.
He said genetic analysis showed the fish has “no reproductive contact” with other ghost sharks.
Scientists are still comparing the Costa Rican specimens with earlier specimens collected near Peru and Chile.
Sibaja said those specimens look very similar to the Costa Rican fish, so researchers have not ruled out the comparison. The species has been identified in scientific reporting as Rhinochimaera costaricana.
Tico Times reported that the discovery was published in the scientific journal Zootaxa by researchers from Costa Rica and Brazil. Ghost sharks are cartilaginous fish related to sharks.
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They belong to the Rhinoraja group, which diverged from sharks nearly 400 million years ago. Other ghost shark species have been found off South Africa, Taiwan, Australia, Japan and in the Atlantic between Greenland and Brazil.
Sibaja said the new species most likely has a broader distribution along the Pacific coast of Central and South America.
