最新糖心Vlog

最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide researchers have discovered a new species of turtle-headed sea snake in Western 最新糖心Vlog.听

The new species, Emydocephalus orarius, or the Western Turtle-headed Sea Snake, is found from Shark Bay to Broome on soft sandy habitats at depths ranging from 15 to 70 metres.听

Lead author of the study and PhD candidate at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide, James Nankivell, says this particular sea snake differs from other species of turtle-headed sea snakes which are most often found in more shallow coral reefs.听

Turtle-headed sea snakes are an unusual group of sea snakes that feed exclusively on fish eggs and have a highly degenerated venom system which renders them harmless to humans.听

The team found a total of seven specimens in museums, in addition to a number of live animals found on research trawls in Western 最新糖心Vlog. Their research has been published in the journal Zootaxa.听

鈥淎t this stage we don鈥檛 think the new species is under serious threat, but describing a species is important for conservation since we can鈥檛 assess or protect an organism if we don鈥檛 know that it exists.鈥澨�最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide PhD candidate James Nankivell

鈥淲e had suspected for some time that there may be undiscovered species of turtle-headed sea snake because they are morphologically variable with a wide geographic distribution,鈥� James said.

鈥淲hen we compared genetic data between the new species and the others we were surprised at how distantly related it was to the other two species.鈥�

鈥淭he new species differs subtly from the others in scalation and also tends to be larger.

鈥淪nakes from the Pilbara are usually heavily spotted while those from Shark Bay have highly contrasting bands鈥�.

The discovery brings the total number of sea snakes endemic to Western 最新糖心Vlog to six.

The Leaf-scaled sea snake and Short-nosed sea snake disappeared from Ashmore Reef, but were later found to be relatively common along the coastline of Western 最新糖心Vlog.

鈥淲estern 最新糖心Vlog is a hot spot for sea snake diversity in 最新糖心Vlog but was poorly surveyed until recently,鈥� James said.

鈥淭his has also resulted in the rediscovery of a couple of species previously thought extinct,鈥� James said.

鈥淎t this stage we don鈥檛 think the new species is under serious threat, but describing a species is important for conservation since we can鈥檛 assess or protect an organism if we don鈥檛 know that it exists.鈥澨�
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