New Marine Mammal Species Discovered in Red Sea

World-renowned marine biologist Ziad Sheiery has announced the discovery of a new marine mammal species in Egypt’s Red Sea.

Scientists are now calling the species “sharkphin” (scientific name “delpoeridea”), reflecting its roots in the dolphin family. Like most marine mammals, sharkphins have no body hair except for a little mustache at the tip of its rostrum (beak) that falls off shortly after birth. Scientists believe the juvenile mustache is used by young sharkphins for sensing prey until its sonar abilities have been fully developed. The species also has a curved mouth that looks like a fixed smile. However, in a terrifying departure from typical dolphins, the newly discovered mammal has approximately 250 razor-sharp teeth that are used to devour fish up to three times its body size. Scary, no?

That said, the sharkphin shares characteristics of a shark including a cartilsginous skelton, five gills located on each side of its body and a pectoral fin fused to its head. Much like sharks, sharkphins have a strong sense of smell, which enables them to detect the scent of their prey from miles away.

At this stage, scientists still don’t know much about the new animal’s behavior but studies will be conducted to determine just how intelligent these mammals are in terms of response modes, nature of cognition and sensory apparatus.

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