A new species of shark has been discovered by scientists in the eastern Indonesian waters that can 'walk' along the ocean floor.
The brown spotted fish, called Hemiscyllium halmahera, is a species of bamboo shark that can grow to 27 inches in length and lives on the seabed where is hunts marine invertebrates and small fish.
Rather than swim, these slender-bodied sharks ‘walk’ by wriggling their bodies and pushing with their pectoral and pelvic fins.
Two specimens of the shy fish were discovered in the Indonesian archipelago of Muluku by biologist Dr Gerald Allen, from Conservation International, and his team.
Writing in the International Journal of Ichthyology Dr Allen said: “The new species is clearly differentiated on the basis of colour pattern.
“Its features include a general brown colouration with numerous clusters of mainly 2-3 dark polygonal spots, widely scattered white spots in the matrix between dark clusters.”
The shark's strange walking motion may help provide clues about how early ancestors of the first animals to walk on land began evolving.
Because of its size it is not a threat to humans.
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