Mustelus hacat

Taxobox
name = "Mustelus hacat"


image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Chondrichthyes
subclassis = Elasmobranchii
ordo = Carcharhiniformes
familia = Triakidae
genus = "Mustelus"
species = "M. hacat"
binomial = "Mustelus hacat"
binomial_authority = Jiménez, Nishizaki & Geniz, 2005

"Mustelus hacat" is a smooth-hound shark species first discovered by ichthyologist Juan Carlos Pérez Jiménez in 2003 in the Gulf of California off the coast of Mexico. The shark is slender, dark grey-brown and grows up to 1.2 metre (4 feet) long.

There are four other species of "Mustelus" in the eastern part of the Northern Pacific Ocean. "M. hacat" differs from its close relatives in its uniform grey-brown colour and the white tips and trailing edges of its dorsal, pectoral, anal, and caudal fins. [cite journal|author = Juan Carlos Pérez Jiménez, Oscar Sosa Nishizaki, & José Leonardo Castillo Geniz|title = [http://gaceta.cicese.mx/gaceta/100/papertiburon2005.pdf A New Eastern North Pacific Smoothhound Shark (Genus "Mustelus", Family Triakidae) from the Gulf of California] |journal = Copeia|year = 2005|pages = 834–845] This is the first new shark find in the wildlife-rich inlet in the 34 years since tiny Mexican hornshark, "Heterodontus mexicanus", was identified in 1972. [cite web | year=2006| title=Biologist discovers new shark species in Sea of Cortez| work=Surfer's Village | url=http://www.globalsurfnews.com/news.asp?Id_news=20607 | accessdate=2006-03-06]

In an interview with Reuters, Pérez Jiménez said,

The name "hacat" means "shark" in the Seri language spoken by the Seri who live on the mainland coast of the Gulf of California, in Sonora, Mexico, near Tiburón Island. The shark have small teeth and are believed to feed on shrimp in deep waters. The specimens were netted at a depth of about 200 meters (660 feet).

Samples of the new species were taken to CICESE Science and Technology Research Center at the port of Ensenada.

References

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