Post by LSDeep on Jun 8, 2006 8:03:24 GMT -5
There's a new sheriff in the sound and it's a hammerhead.
A University of South Carolina biologist has identified what he thinks is a new species of scalloped hammerhead shark - one more toothy, cartilaginous predator to strike terror in beachgoers - as though 39 species including tiger sharks, spiny dogfish, sharpnose sevengill sharks, longfin makos, night sharks and others found offshore aren't enough.
The public is suitably horrified.
"Cool," said Folly Beach surfer Kelly Kane, Ocean Surf Shop manager.
"That's cool," said Mel Bell, S.C. Natural Resources biologist.
"It's different. It's something we never expected. It's like a neat detective story," said Joseph Quattro, the university biologist.
The new hammerhead is a "cryptic" species, meaning it can't readily be distinguished from any other 10-foot-long, notched-tooth hammerhead prowling the bottoms of a beach, bay, river or inlet near you.
The differences are mostly in the genes, although the new species has fewer vertebrae in the spine than the standard scalloped hammerhead. The new shark is apparently unique to South Carolina - "pups" have been found only in St. Helena Sound or Bulls Bay.
In fact, Quattro's research found the vertebrae difference was first documented in the 1960s, in a Smithsonian Institution collection hammerhead that had been pulled offshore Charleston in the 1800s.
The new shark is very rare compared to the scalloped hammerhead, itself one of the species of the troubled shark thought to be declining "precipitously," Quattro said, due to overfishing, bycatch and other threats.
"That's the unfortunate thing. There's a lot of biodiversity out there that's going extinct and hasn't even been described yet. It could be the coastal environment of South Carolina is extremely important to this species."
As for the new shark's threat to beachgoers, despite the approximately 40 species of shark swimming around the Lowcountry every day and a few people who get nipped each year, the last fatal shark attack in the state was in the late 1800s.
"I'm more scared to cross the street," Kane, the surfer, said.
Reach Bo Petersenat 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.
A University of South Carolina biologist has identified what he thinks is a new species of scalloped hammerhead shark - one more toothy, cartilaginous predator to strike terror in beachgoers - as though 39 species including tiger sharks, spiny dogfish, sharpnose sevengill sharks, longfin makos, night sharks and others found offshore aren't enough.
The public is suitably horrified.
"Cool," said Folly Beach surfer Kelly Kane, Ocean Surf Shop manager.
"That's cool," said Mel Bell, S.C. Natural Resources biologist.
"It's different. It's something we never expected. It's like a neat detective story," said Joseph Quattro, the university biologist.
The new hammerhead is a "cryptic" species, meaning it can't readily be distinguished from any other 10-foot-long, notched-tooth hammerhead prowling the bottoms of a beach, bay, river or inlet near you.
The differences are mostly in the genes, although the new species has fewer vertebrae in the spine than the standard scalloped hammerhead. The new shark is apparently unique to South Carolina - "pups" have been found only in St. Helena Sound or Bulls Bay.
In fact, Quattro's research found the vertebrae difference was first documented in the 1960s, in a Smithsonian Institution collection hammerhead that had been pulled offshore Charleston in the 1800s.
The new shark is very rare compared to the scalloped hammerhead, itself one of the species of the troubled shark thought to be declining "precipitously," Quattro said, due to overfishing, bycatch and other threats.
"That's the unfortunate thing. There's a lot of biodiversity out there that's going extinct and hasn't even been described yet. It could be the coastal environment of South Carolina is extremely important to this species."
As for the new shark's threat to beachgoers, despite the approximately 40 species of shark swimming around the Lowcountry every day and a few people who get nipped each year, the last fatal shark attack in the state was in the late 1800s.
"I'm more scared to cross the street," Kane, the surfer, said.
Reach Bo Petersenat 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.