Melbourne: Researchers in marine biology have discovered the world's first hybrid sharks in Australian waters, a media report said today.
The researchers have come across 57 animals along a 2000-km stretch from Queensland to New South Wales which they believe are the result of cross-breeding between the common blacktip shark and Australian blacktip shark, two related but genetically distinct species, a newspaper reported.
The inter-breeding between the two species shows that the animals are adapting to climate change and the hybridisation can make the fishes stronger, the scientists said.
"Hybridisation can enable sharks to adapt to ecological change as the smaller Australian blacktip currently favours tropical waters in the north while the larger common blacktip is more abundant in sub-tropical and temperate waters along the south-eastern Australian coastline," Jennifer Ovenden of Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries was quoted as saying by the daily.
"Wild hybrids are usually hard to find, so detecting them and their offspring is extraordinary. To find 57 hybrids along 2000-km of coastline is unprecedented," she said.
Another researcher at the University of Queensland researcher, Jess Morgan, said it was unusual for sharks to breed in such a way.
She said as sharks physically mate, it makes sure they do not hybridise with the wrong species.
Colin Simpfendorfer of James Cook University's Fishing and Fisheries Research Centre, said the results of this research show that we still have a lot to learn about these important ocean predators.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 03, 2012, 10:13