Squatina mapama, new species from Panama: first report of an angel shark
from the Central American Caribbean
Date:
January 24, 2022
Source:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Summary:
Genetic analyses helped identify a new cryptic shark species of
the genus Squatina from the Western Atlantic Ocean.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Genetic analyses helped identify a new cryptic shark species of the
genus Squatina from the Western Atlantic Ocean.
========================================================================== Between 2010 and 2011, two research expeditions sponsored by the Spanish government exploring the biodiversity of benthic organisms -- those
living on the ocean floor -- on Central America's Pacific and Caribbean
coasts, came across a new shark species. The Squatina mapama n. sp.,
collected off the Caribbean coast of Panama became the first record
of an angel shark from the Central American Caribbean. A new paper
co-authored by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute staff scientist,
D. Ross Robertson, described and named it.
Many angel shark species are considered endangered by the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature. Their genus, Squatina, goes way
back, most likely originating in the Cretaceous (from about 145 to 66
million years ago).
Squatina are flat-bodied sharks resembling stingrays, and generally
speaking, the different species are not easy to distinguish from each
other with the naked eye. In fact, S. mapama (named after the Spanish government fisheries organization) looks much like another species
that lives in the same part of the Caribbean, and also occurs in
Panama: Squatina david. However, aside from a number of subtle physical differences between them, genetic analyses helped to establish them as
a separate species, and distinct from other new world angel sharks.
In reference to one of the distinguishing characteristics of S. mapama
-- a short and narrow line of small scales or dermal denticles -- the
authors suggested giving this new species the common name "small-crested
angel shark." The small-crested angelshark is the fourth new species
of Squatina identified in the Western Atlantic in the last decade, and
although the total number of species in the genus has not been established
with certainty, this study reveals the forensic value of genetic analyses
for understanding the true biological diversity of a genus with various
cryptic species (those that have very similar appearances).
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Smithsonian_Tropical_Research_Institute. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Long, D.J., Ebert, D.A., Tavera, J., Acero P., A. & Robertson, D.R.
Squatina mapama n. sp., a new cryptic species of angel shark
(Elasmobranchii: Squatinidae) from the southwestern Caribbean Sea.
Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 2022 DOI:
10.5281/zenodo.5806692 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220124151058.htm
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