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Two species of virulent sea snakes that were suppose to be nonextant have been find slithering off the coast of westerly Australia .
The brownish - imperial leaf - scale ocean snake ( Aipysurus foliosquama ) and the xanthous - chocolate-brown scant - nosed sea Hydra ( Aipysurus apraefrontalis ) once lived among the Ashmore and Hibernia reefs in the Timor Sea , but disappear between 1998 and 2002 , the researchers said .
Two courting short-nosed sea snakes (Aipysurus apraefrontalis).
In fact , intensive Witwatersrand study carried out between 2001 and 2012 failed to find a singleA. foliosquamaorA. apraefrontalisin those reef , harmonise to the scientific communication website The Conversation . After that , both metal money were listed as critically endangered , first by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) in 2010 , and next by Australia ’s threatened coinage legislation in 2011 , and many scientists take for granted they were extinct . [ Image Gallery : snake of the World ]
However , every once in a while , researcher would hear anecdotal write up about sea snake sightings , though in unlike places off the western Australia coast .
So , a group of scientists launched an exhaustive search for the two snake in the grass specie . They spent more than 60 hours aqualung dive and snorkeling , and more than 25 hours with a manta towage ( drag a snorkel diver behind a small boat ) . They also investigated shrimp trawler bycatch ( trawling boats using nets to take hold of seafood ) , and spent 2 60 minutes searching for the serpent during low - tide walk of life , concord to the study .
A leaf-scaled sea snake (Aipysurus foliosquama).
The search was a success , yielding 16 of thepurplishA. foliosquamaand seven of the yellowishA. apraefrontalissnakes , the researchers said . Whenever possible , the researchers take pocket-size tissue paper samples from the Hydra before setting them liberal , and then returned to the lab to verify the species with genetic analysis , harmonise to the study .
" This discovery is really exciting — we get another luck to protect these two endemic westerly Australian ocean snake specie , " sketch tether generator Blanche D’Anastasi , a doctorial nominee at the Australian Research Council ( ARC ) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University , suppose in a statement .
" But to succeed in protect them , we will need to monitor populations as well as tackle inquiry into understand their biological science and the terror they face , " she sum .
Surprisingly , the researchers found the snake in previously unreported habitats . They discoveredA. foliosquamain the luxuriant ocean - sens beds of semitropical Shark Bay , located 1,056 miles ( 1,700 kilometers ) in the south of Ashmore Reef — about the distance between New York City and Jackson , Mississippi .
" We had call back that this specie of ocean snake was only found on tropic coral reefs , " D’Anastasi say . " Finding them in sea - gage bed atShark Baywas a real surprise . "
Grant Griffin , a wildlife officer with Western Australia Parks and Wildlife , also snapped a picture of two courtingA. apraefrontalissnakes in Ningaloo Reef in April 2013 .
" We were shoot a line forth ; these potentially extinct Snake were there in plain sight , living on one of Australia ’s instinctive icons , Ningaloo Reef , " D’Anastasi said .
disappear ophidian
It ’s still a mystery why these two species , as well as three other ocean snake species , vanish from Ashmore Reef , D’Anastasi say .
Australia is a hotspot of biodiversity for sea snakes , hosting about 35 of the roughly 70 make love ocean snake species in the world . Sea snakes typically populate in shallow water , give giving birth to live on young and are important predators that help conserve coral reef ecosystems , the investigator tell . [ Colorful Creations : See Photos of Incredible Coral ]
" What is of uttermost concern , however , is that it has not yet been potential to key the processes that caused the extirpations [ local extinction ] of these and otherAipysurusspecies on Timor Sea reefs , " the investigator wrote in the study .
Though many of the ocean ophidian were collected as trawler by-catch , the investigator were n’t able to link their disappearance to such trawling .
Perhaps other condition , such as loss of habitat or prey ; disease ; mood alteration ; or the personal effects of mining geographic expedition and extraction harmed these local population , the researchers said .
The subject field was write in the February 2016 outlet of thejournal Biological Conservation .
