Watch the short here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBuVtABvXcB/
Transcript
- Telemachus: If so then, give me chimeras!
- Okay, here ya go!
- These are Chimaeras! They just… have an extra “a” in the name
- Chimaeras are a class of fish that live deep under water. They’re related to rays and sharks, and they’re perfect to learn about for spoopy month because they’re also called SPOOKFISH and GHOST SHARKS!
- Like rays, they have a long, whip-like tail. That snake-like tail might be why they’re called “chimeras” — like the snake tail on the greek chimera
- Dr. Didier: “They’re weird looking, they have these strange snouts and sensory systems”
- That’s Dr. Dominique Didier. She’s studied ghost sharks for just over 3 decades.
- And she helped discover a new species of ghost shark THIS YEAR in New Zealand and Australia!
- Dr. Didier: “We’re coming to the conclusion that what we thought was this one, global species, Harriotta raleighana, is probably not”
- Hariotta avia, or the Australia narrow-nosed spookfish, used to be thought of as the same thing as Hariotta raleighana. Then this year, Dr. Didier and colleagues released a paper (Finucci et al., 2024) that discovered that some of the populations near Australia and New Zealand are their own, unique species!
- H avia looks very similar to H. raleighana overall. But the skin color is distinct, as is some of the morphology — that is, the shape and structure of the body and its parts.
- Genetic analysis also played a role in identifying the new species.
- Dr. Didier: Now we have a lot more evidence, partly because we can do molecular studies to say, “this is probably something new”
- This figure from the study maps some of the genetic mutations between individuals. You can clearly see that the Harriotta avia specimens are very different from the rest of the Harriotta specimens collected.
- Given the morphological and genetic data, the team was able to confidently declare the new species.
- Before I let Dr. Didier go, I had to ask one more question:
- Me: So what’s your favorite thing about these weird little guys, about ghost sharks?
- Dr. Didier: “Oh my gosh, there’s so much to love about them! I just think they’re, like, cool to look at! … They’re ancient, so looking at their anatomy can give us clues to the evolution of vertebrates… Even now, after working with them for these decades, there’s still, like, tons of stuff to be done! So that’s why I like them, I get excited about all this neat stuff”
- Me: Anything else you want to share for the end of the video?
- Dr. Didier: Coming up, on October 30th, is national ghost shark day! So break out your ghost shark juju and have a great day!
- Thank you so much to Dr. Didier for helping out, check out the link in my bio for references, and follow for more cool science!
B-roll/image credits
- Deep see chimera: NOAA/wikimedia (Public domain)
- Hydrolagus colliei: Linda Snook/MBNMS (Public domain)
- Greek chimera: Carole Raddato/flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
- Harriotta raleighana: NOAA Okeanos/wikimedia (Public domain)
- Spotted eagle ray: John Norton/wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)
- Hydrolagus alberti: SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory/wikimedia (Public domain)
- Reef shark: NOAA/wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)
- Cute ghost shark illustration: Me
- Hammerhead ghost shark illustration: Zoe McGee
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References
- AMNH. (2015, February 26). Type Specimens: An Overview | American Museum of Natural History. American Museum of Natural History. https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/from-the-collections-posts/just-our-types-a-short-guide-to-type-specimens
- Bottaro, M. (2022). Sixth sense in the deep-sea: the electrosensory system in ghost shark Chimaera monstrosa. Scientific Reports, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14076-2
- Didier, D., Kemper, J., & Ebert, D. (2012). Phylogeny, Biology and Classification of Extant Holocephalans. Marine Biology/CRC Marine Biology Series, 97–122. https://doi.org/10.1201/b11867-6
- Finucci, B., Cheok, J., Ebert, D. A., Herman, K., Kyne, P. M., & Dulvy, N. K. (2020). Ghosts of the deep – Biodiversity, fisheries, and extinction risk of ghost sharks. Fish and Fisheries, 22(2), 391–412. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12526
- Finucci, B., Didier, D., Ebert, D. A., Green, M. E., & Kemper, J. M. (2024). Harriotta avia sp. nov. – a new rhinochimaerid (Chimaeriformes: Rhinochimaeridae) described from the Southwest Pacific. Environmental Biology of Fishes. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01577-4
- Halstead, B. W., & Bunker, N. C. (1952). The Venom Apparatus of the Ratfish, Hydrolagus colliei. Copeia, 1952(3), 128–128. https://doi.org/10.2307/1439692