乐生活Discovery of a new color type of Leopard Shark: sand Leopard Shark (Leopard Shark without Leopard)
Source: Dahl, RK (2019). The Sandy Zebra Shark: A New Color Morph of the Zebra Shark Stegostoma tigrinum, with a Redescription of the Species and a Revision of Its Nomenclature. Copeia 107, No. 3, 2019, 524–,541.
For a long time, people think that there is only one zebra shark type color – classic "adult leopard, black babies stretch marks".,However, in 2019, the researchers
The researchers analyzed that the genetic similarity of typical leopard sharks and sand leopard sharks reached 99.4%, both of which belonged to the same species.
Both have the following commonalities:
1. The lines of typical leopard sharks and sand leopard sharks change with age.
2. Both eye lengths decrease with age.
3. The caudal fin ratio of both decreases with age.
The difference between the two is not much except for the markings, mainly because:
1. The distance between the cloaca and the caudal fin of the sand leopard shark is greater than the typical leopard shark
2. The distance between the snout of a typical leopard shark and the cloaca is greater than that of sand.
However, the researchers point out that these differences do not account for genetic differences, most likely differences in developmental stages.
In addition, there is no significant difference between the two shield scale structures.
Picture from the paper, is a photo of a sand leopard shark:
A-D is a transitional stage from larval to adult, and E-H is an adult.,It can be seen that there is no typical leopard in adult body.
