50 New Species Discovered in Indonesia, Including Walking Sharks
More than 50 new species, including sharks, shrimp, and reef-building corals, have been found in Indonesian West Papua (Irian Jaya).
The region, however, is coming under increasing threat from a proposed national policy to increase commercial fisheries there.
Among the new species were two kinds of epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium sp.) - small, slender-bodied bottom-dwellers that use their pectoral fins to "walk" across the seafloor.
Also discovered were several new species of "flasher" wrasses - named for the brilliantly colored displays the normally drab males flash to entice females to mate - along with fairy basslets, damselfishes, and a new jawfish. The scientists recorded a total of 1,233 species of coral reef fishes, at least 23 of them endemic.