World's first hybrid sharks discovered off Australia

THE WORLD'S first hybrid shark - a cross between two different species of blacktip - has been found off Australia. The scientists who made the discovery have assured us that there is little chance of hybridisation leading to a new breed of "mega-shark". But while the new hybrid may be no Jaws-style killing machine, it should be better able to survive the effects of climate change than its parent species.

The new shark is a cross between the globally-distributed common blacktip and the Australian blacktip, which, as its name suggests, has a more limited range. Marine biologists found 57 of the hybrids in 2,000km of coastline off northern New South Wales and northern Queensland.

"It's very surprising because no one's ever seen shark hybrids before. This is not a common occurrence by any stretch of the imagination," Jess Morgan, from the University of Queensland, told AFP.

Morgan describes the find as "evolution in action" - because by mating with the larger common blacktip, which can swim in the cooler seas off New South Wales, the Australian blacktip is allowing its offspring to extend the species' range beyond its native tropical waters.

The new hybrid could therefore be better able to survive the changing sea temperatures that might arise from climate change than its parent species.

The scientists believe there may be other hybrids of other shark species out there and intend to study the waters off western and northern Australia.  

Asked whether hybridisation could lead to a new species of deadly "mega-shark", researcher Dr Jennifer Ovenden from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries told The Daily Telegraph: "We don't think there's any issue with that at all.

"Both of these species we don't consider a danger to humans. Given that they keep the same sort of morphology of one or other of the parents, we should see no visible change in terms of what we see out there in the ocean." ·