Will ghost sharks soon vanish?

[Eldorado]

Take one look at a ghost shark and you may say, “What’s up with that weird-looking fish?”

Over the past few decades, scientists learned that these cartilaginous fishes, also known as ratfish or Chimaeras, have been around for hundreds of millions of years, and that they have venomous spines in front of their dorsal fins and “fly” through the water by flapping their pectoral fins.

They even learned that most male ghost sharks have a retractable sex organ on their foreheads that resembles a medieval mace.

However, much remains to be learned about these strange creatures.

Basic biological information, like how long they live and how often they reproduce, is lacking for most of the 52 known species.

Full NY Times December article: Link

Ghosts of the deep – Biodiversity, fisheries, and extinction risk of ghost sharks

Research article at Wiley Online Library: Link

Edited January 14, 2021 by Eldorado

[the13bats]