WALKING SHARK - NEEDS CONSERVATION

This is my translation from Bahasa Indonesia to English for my posting with header : "HIU BERJALAN MEMBUTUHKAN KONSERVASI"

https://steemit.com/nature/@edhimuryanto/hiu-berjalan-membutuhkan-konservasi

There are 9 species of Walking Shark around the world. Among them are - Hemiscyllium halmahera (H. halmahera) is a species of bamboo shark that found in Indonesia. These sharks are commonly found in the islands of Halmahera and generally around the Maluku archipelago. The Species type of this shark is similar to the Hemiscyllium-galei that found in West Papua.

Collaborations research Conservation International (CI) with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the Western Australian Museum and the California Academy of Science reveal, there are as many as nine species they call walking shark (the shark which could walk) and five of them live in Indonesian waters habitat.

Four endemic species or only exist in Indonesia are : the Raja Ampat Sharks (Hemiscyllium freycineti), the Cendrawasih Bay Horse Shark (H. galei), Halmahera Half Shark (H. halmahera), and the Triton Kaimana (H. henryi). Another species of H. trispeculare can be found in the waters of Aru Maluku, but it can also be found on the north and west coast of Australia.

Unfortunately, based on periodic monitoring conducted by CI in the waters of West Papua, indicates that the current population of these sharks are threatened with extinction, due to the limited of their distribution life area.

It is estimated that these unique specieses is threatened by natural activities such as cyclone-to-tsunami, up to human-caused threats, such as indiscriminate fishing, oil spills, rising temperatures, coastal damage, coastal reclamation up to unsustainable management of tourism industries.

Another cause of the threat of extinction of the Walking Shark is according to experts from the Center for Oceanographic Research LIPI, Fahmi is because the distribution of these sharks is very limited. Among these animals have unique biological properties that are different from other coral fish species. These groups of sharks has a limited swimming ability and very depend on the habitat and the particular water depth so unable to move long distances and has no high potential for distribution

Beside that, the reproduction type of these sharks group are by laying its eggs on a particular substrate - which are specific (where the fish eggs are attached) to hatch and develop into adult individuals in the same habitat.

Unfortunately until now, there has not been found a reliable solution to deal with the threat of extinction of this species.

Hopefully by writing this article will raise awareness of the preservation of this type of Shark.

Salam,
@edhimuryanto