South African Museum Adventures

Last year fellow graduate student Paul Clerkin and I traveled to South Africa to search for new ghost shark species. The South African Museum in Cape Town houses an extensive scientific collection with 700 million year old fossils to fish caught last week.

For more than 15 years local researchers speculated two new species of ghost shark existed in the region, but no one had taken the time to look for them. It may seem counterintuitive, but a museum is a great place to find unknown species. If a researcher or fisherman encounters an unidentified ghost shark, it is often placed in the museum collection and forgotten.

 

Equipped with calipers, measuring tape, gloves and a camera we can collect morphometrics on the ghost shark specimens

Finding and measuring specimens isn’t as glorious as it sounds, the specimens are preserved in alcohol and stored in large tubs; one never knows what you might find. It’s smelly work, but rewarding when you can find evidence of a new species. 

 

Weird finds are plentiful in a museum collection. This is a small-tooth sand tiger shark (Odontaspis ferox) skull, with a few extra bits still attached.