Sunday 1 September 2013

Walking Shark — not a Mystery but Reality!

Have you ever heard of walking sharks? A species of shark that can walk on its fins on the bottom of the ocean has been found in Indonesia. Hemiscyllium Halmahera uses its fins to crawl on the ocean bed and forage for small fish and crustaceans; this was revealed by scientists from Conservation International.

The shark, has wide horizontal stripes of brown and bamboo, grows to a maximum length of just 30in and is harmless to humans. It was found off the remote eastern island of Halmahera, one of the Maluku islands.

Their larger cousins the long tail long-tailed carpet shark with bigger bodies found in the tropical waters of Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

The Indonesian island has at least 218 species of sharks and rays and a diverse marine life. The country is making special efforts to conserve its unique and endangered species said the Conservation International.

Shark expert said that the Indonesian Institute of Sciences has found the third walking shark species in eastern Indonesia in the past six years, which highlights the tremendous shark and ray biodiversity.

The marine world never ceases to amaze us with a wealth of interesting species and the wide diversity of the marine wonders is truly perplexing.

Just a few days ago the strange-looking sea creature came up ashore a beach in the southern coastal town on Thursday. From “horned sea monster” to a “mutant fish”, the mysterious carcass has become a major center of attraction for the people.

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