A new shark species was discovered in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. Postgraduate student Juan Carlos Perez noticed the 5-foot long, dark gray-brown animals in 2003 while on a fishing boat studying sharks, but only recently confirmed via genetic testing that they represent a new species. Perez and his colleagues named the shark Mustelus hacat, a term that apparently means “shark” in alocal dialect. From Reuters:
“What I first noticed was their color. They are dark in color, like dark coffee, and have white markings on the tips and edges of their fins and tails which jump out at you because they are so dark,” Perez told Reuters on Thursday…“There must be more undiscovered species there but access is difficult. If we hadn’t been on those boats I’d never have seen them because that’s the only place they are caught. And it’s not a region that attracts scuba diving…”
The Mustelus hacat lives in the ocean’s depths feeding on shellfish and shrimp,” Perez said, adding: “They have very, very small teeth. They are really not aggressive or dangerous.”
