BANGKOK, Thailand - Scientists combing
through undersea fauna off Indonesia's Papua province said
Monday they had discovered dozens of new species, including
a shark that walks on its fins and a shrimp that looks like
a praying mantis.
The team from U.S.-based Conservation
International also warned that the area — known as Bird's
Head Seascape — is under danger from fishermen who use
dynamite and cyanide to net their catches and called on
Indonesia's government to do more to protect it.
"It's one of the most stunningly beautiful landscapes
and seascapes on the planet," said Mark Erdmann, a senior
adviser of Conservation International who led two surveys
to the area earlier this year.
"Above and below water, it's simply mind blowing," he
said.
Erdmann and his team claim to have discovered 52 new
species, including 24 new species of fish, 20 new species
of coral and eight new species of shrimp. Among the
highlights were an epaulette shark that walks on its fins,
a praying mantis-like shrimp and scores of reef-building
corals, he said.
Conservation International said papers on two of the
new fish species, called flasher wrasse because of the
bright colors the male exhibits during mating, have been
accepted for publication to the Aqua, Journal of
Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology.
The group is in the process of writing papers on the
other species, it said.
Carden Wallace, a coral expert and principal scientist
at the Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville,
Australia, said she was not surprised by the finding
"mostly because it is a remote location and hasn't been
visited by scientists very much."
Wallace said the finds should give scientists crucial
data.
"This will give us a better understanding of where all
this diversity originates from and how vulnerable it may
be," Wallace said.
Erdmann said the discoveries add to an already
legendary reputation for the area, which stretches for
70,000 square miles on the northwestern end of Indonesia's
Papua province.
Dubbed Asia's "Coral Triangle," it is home to more than
1,200 species of fish and almost 600 species of
reef-building coral, or 75 percent of the world's known
total.
But the region's biodiversity faces threats from
subsistence fishermen who use dynamite and cyanide, as
well as a government plan to introduce commercial fishing
along the coast. That has prompted Conservation
International to call for the government to set up a
series of marine parks around Bird's Head Seascape.
"These Papuan reefs are literally species factories
that require special attention to protect them from
unsustainable fisheries and other threats so they can
continue to benefit their local owners and the global
community," Erdmann said.
Erdmann said only 11 percent of the area currently is
protected, most of it in the Teluk Cendarawasih National
Park. He said the government is studying the idea of
creating additional marine parks.
The surveys took place in waters surrounding Papua from
Teluk Cenderawasih in the north to Raja Ampat archipelago
off the western coast and southeast to the FakFak-Kaimana
coastline.
The two survey sites are a few hundred miles from
another Conservation International site in the Foja
Mountains. Researchers in February announced a survey of
the Foja Mountains discovered 20 frog species — including
a microhylid frog less than a half-inch long — four new
butterfly species, and at least five new types of palms.
Researchers also encountered the Long-beaked Echidna,
members of the primitive egg-laying group of mammals
called the Monotremes.
___
On the Net:
Conservation International:
http://www.conservation.org
