lilliputian is known about the elusive Ganges river shark ( Glyphis gangeticus ) , and what is known is mostly gathered from just three nineteenth - century museum specimens . Listed as critically endangered , the rare fresh water fish has n’t been spot in more than a decade . That is , until now .
of late released photographs show a 2.6 - beat ( 8.7 - human foot ) female shark at a Mumbai Pisces market . The pictures were gathered as part of a study conducted under aSave Our Seas Foundationgrant . The findings , published in theJournal of Fish Biology , are a upshot of nearly two years ’ Charles Frederick Worth of hebdomadal shark landing sample distribution , in which researchers read , interview , and measured shark fished and trade at the Sassoon Docks .
Photographed in February 2016 , the female shark was describe by researchers based on her orotund nozzle , little center , and fin characteristics specific to the species . However , researchers were n’t able-bodied to pick up morphological measurements or tissue samples because of “ speedy processing of fishers and traders at the internet site . ” They ’re also not indisputable where the shark was caught , but job it could have been somewhere along the northeast sea-coast of the Arabian Sea .
It ’s not only the first confirmed sighting in more than a decade , but it ’s also the first battleground watching of a whole species – the other available accounts come from just six jaws pile up by Pakistani fishermen and trader .
“ There are so few specimens of river sharks from around the world that pretty much all the information we have is based on either keep up specimens from the last century , or from jaws that were regain at some item in distant settlement and were identify as river sharks , ” Rima Jabado , founder of theGulf Elasmo Project , toldNew Scientist .
The “ highly threatened , rarefied and elusive ” shark ’s statistical distribution and status have been unmanageable to determine both globally and locally due to a lack of specimen . Much of what scientist know about the shark is extrapolate from its Australian first cousin . scientist do believe that the shark relies both on river and marine environments , both of which are heavily bear on by human development and habitat degradation .
One of 10 species of cartilaginous Pisces called Chondrichthyes that are protected under the Indian Wildlife ( Protection ) Act , the IUCN is not certain to what extent tribute is enforced and summon fear with compliance . investigator say overfishing is likely an surface area of concern ; in the last 30 years , India has consistently been among thetop threelargest catchers of sharks and rays in the human race .
“ landing such as this disk symbolise a preservation issue and mitigation touchstone should be deliberate desperately in prospect of the surmise low population sizes , ” say the author .
