They found the world’s largest luminous shark in New Zealand

A six-foot-long shark, which glows in the dark and inhabits the depths of New Zealand waters, is the “world’s largest luminous vertebrate known to date”, according to a scientific study published Wednesday.

The investigation confirmed for the first time that this stone shark (Dalatias licha), as well as two other species (Etmopterus lucifer y Etmopterus granulosus) who inhabit the depths of New Zealand waters, and which were already known, are capable of producing visible light by biochemical reactions.

Specimens of these three species were captured in January 2020 during a expedition of the Water and Atmosphere Research Institute (NIWA) of New Zealand on the waters that cover the ocean floor of Chatham Rise, a vast area stretching 1,000 kilometers east of the ocean country.

Jerome Mallefet, main author of the study published in the scientific journal Frontiers of marine sciences and that confirmed for the first time the existence of bioluminescent sharks in New Zealand, explained that captured specimens produce a blue-green light that shines and darkens slowly.

“They glow in the dark, they don’t glow”, details the Belgian scientist, who had the rare opportunity to study these characteristics on freshly caught specimens, in a NIWA press release.

Sharks, like other bioluminescent creatures, produce light to hunt prey, to breed or in groups, as well as to camouflage themselves in light environments to protect themselves from predators.the added statement.

Mallefer believes that 57 of 540 known shark species can produce bioluminescent light, most of them small in size, inhabiting the so-called “twilight zone” of the sea, more than 200 meters deep.

“The existence of luminous organisms in this area (where the three species of sharks were found) makes it more and more evident that producing light at depth has an important role in the structuring of the enormous ecosystem of our planet. “, according to this first experimental study.

Mallefet’s investigation – with his colleague Laurent Duchatelet, from the Catholic University of Louvain, and Darren Stevens, from NIWA- could help you better understand deep sea animals.

(With information from EFE)

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