AUSTRALIAN scientists say the discovery of interbred sharks off the east coast, the first hybrid sharks found, could signal the presence of “tropical” sharks in waters as far south as Sydney.
But it’s the scale of the discovery that has astonished them. Multiple generations of the new creature have been identified in five locations between northern NSW and far north Queensland.
The university and government researchers say it is too early to tell why the hybrid sharks are themselves capable of reproducing — unlike mules, for example — or whether they’ll supplant their parent species, but they say the discovery suggests other similar shark and ray species could also be interbreeding and improving their ability to adapt to climate change.
