Researchers have discovered a few species of sharks that can 'walk' on their fins.?This species of shark is the most recently evolved shark ever to be found on Earth.?
Instead of swimming, the new technique helps the shark hunt in the waters off Northern Australia.
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Scientists have known about sharks that have the ability to "walk" with their fins on dry land for a while, but they found four species of sharks that have evolved the ability much more recently.??
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The research conducted by environmental organisation Conservation International, the University of Queensland, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Australian CSIRO and the University of Florida, was published in the journal?Marine & Freshwater Research.
Mark Erdmann, a co-author of the study, said: ¡°Instead of swimming around, these little bottom-dwelling sharks actually ¡®walk¡¯ using their pectoral and pelvic fins, which makes it easier for them to poke their heads under coral and rocks as they look for small fish, snails and crustaceans to eat."
He said, "We¡¯ve found that most walking sharks spend their entire lives on the same reef they where they hatched ¡ª never really moving more than a mile out of this radius. The only way they can get across deep water or move a significant distance would be if they are on a reef that is moving due to tectonic plates shifting."
"Speciation typically happens when individuals of a given species get separated from their main population ¡ª sometimes by walking or swimming or being carried away on a current to an isolated place," Erdmann explained.?
"If they are lucky enough to survive and breed, eventually evolution will take this new population in a different direction and often leads to a new species," he added.
Research published in the journal Marine & Freshwater Research?says it appears to help the sharks hunt for ground-dwelling prey. He added that the team of researchers intends to study the walking sharks further and learn more about their habits.
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