World-first discovery of hybrid sharks off Australia’s east coast
Just found an article on Scuba News. Scientists have discovered that sharks on Australia’s east coast display a mysterious tendency to interbreed, challenging several accepted scientific theories regarding shark behaviour. Article states that because the Australian black tip shark and the common black tip shark have overlapping distributions along the northern and eastern Australian coastline they interbreed. In fact, with the use of both genetic testing and body measurements, 57 hybrid animals were identified from five locations, spanning 2000km from northern NSW to far northern Queensland. Although closely related, the two species grow to different maximum sizes and are genetically distinct.
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