Two species of sharks “crawling” on the seabed, a wobbly exotic fish and a variety of corals … just a small fraction of the 52 new species found off the coast of Indonesia, have established the western Pacific as the waters. richest people on earth.
“We are very convinced that this is the center of marine biodiversity” in the world, said Mark Erdmann, an American scientist at Conservation International, who led the investigation.
During this year’s investigation, the team found around Bird’s Head Peninsula at the western end of New Guinea 24 new species of fish, including two sharks, slender and speckled on their backs, with a length of about 1.2. meter (the color of their sides looks like the officers bag).
The others are 20 new species of coral and 8 species of shrimp that were never known before.
“Especially the astonishing discovery of the sharks – they were much higher organisms, not bacteria or insects,” Erdmann said.
The team also found “wobbly” fish. Males, whose harem is made up of several females, suddenly “flash” yellow, blue, pink and other colors on their bodies, as part of a love-hunting campaign.
Erdmann said the study area, which is around 18,000 km2 in width, has a much higher concentration of species than in the Great Australian Reef. According to him, the Indonesian Ministry of Fisheries wants to increase the number of marine protected areas, which currently represent only about 11% of the waters surrounding the peninsula.
