The Greek waters have, in recent times, become a favoured destination for sharks, rays, and even the odd chimaera if the findings of a 90-year study into the biodiversity of the seas around the Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean are to be believed. 

The study, assembled by the environmental organisation iSea using data accrued over the course of the past nine decades, has documented 4,540 instances of 33 species of sharks, 29 species of rays, and one chimaera (more informally known as a ghost shark) within the seas surrounding Greece over that time span.

These findings were presented earlier this month to members of the European Elasmobranch Association (EEA) – a non-profit organisation dedicated to the study, management, and conservation of sharks – when an international audience gathered in Thessaloniki, Greece this week.

Recognised as the largest-of-its-kind conference dedicated to the study of sharks, the event brought together researchers and professionals under the unifying theme, ‘Stronger Collaboration for More Effective Protection’. 

The shark study itself has been based on a wide variety sources which includes academic theses, social media posts, biodiversity databases, citizen science projects, government reports, and scientific research. It stresses that 55% of the documented instances are not published in scientific journals, while 20% have come from citizen science efforts.

However, what the study may lack in definitive and official sources it makes up for in ‘potential to kick-start a new era’ of protection and scientific study into shark, ray, and chimaera populations within the local waters. And, while the earliest documentation of the presence of sharks within the Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean seas may date all the way back to the time of Aristotle, it’s only in the last 20 years that systematic scientific research has been conducted.

“The goal of the study, which drew on multiple data sources, is to provide a foundation for future research programmes, improve our understanding of species distribution, and focus research efforts on specific areas using a mapping of recorded instances,” Roxani Nasan Aga-Spyridopoulou, an environmental scientist and programme manager at iSea told the Greek news agency AMNA.

She suggested that the findings, while not rooted in systematic science right now, will serve as a guide for future studies. As awareness of the species’ presence within Greek waters has increased over the decades, however, so has the accuracy of recorded data. One highlight within the report is that between 2010 and 2023, some 2,500 instances of shark and ray sightings have been officially recorded.

“There isn’t a single marine area in Greece where sharks and rays haven’t been recorded,” said Spyridopoulou.

In related shark revelations, researchers have been treated to the discovery of not one but two new–to-science species of elasmobranchii in recent weeks, having uncovered new species of hammerhead shark (the aptly-named shovelhead shark) and ghost shark – both of which thought to have been ‘hiding in plain sight’ for years.

Following a decade of research, a breakthrough study published late September finally named the shovelhead shark as the long-lost relative of the bonnethead, a species with which it bears such close resemblance that for centuries it had gone undetermined.

However, with its pointier head and its 82 vertebrae (compared to the bonnethead shark’s 72), the shovelhead (Sphyrna alleni) – it has been revealed since by DNA analysis – is indeed an entirely different species, one that diverged somewhere between 3.5 million and 5 million years ago.

But already, the discovery is mired by the wider impacts of human activity. In 2019, the bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburno) was classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List, facing a global population reduction of up to 79%. It’s understood that bonnetheads, according to the global environmental media platform, Mongabay, make up 10% of fishery bycatches in some areas.

While the conservation status of the newly discovered shovelhead shark is yet to be evaluated, it’s already anticipated that – given the species’ residence along the western Atlantic coast, an area lacking in strict fishing regulation and subject to the threat of overfishing – it’s facing a greater threat.

A spin of the globe and similar circumstances surround a discovery made by New Zealand scientists in an area of the Pacific Ocean, of a new species of ‘ghost shark’, the narrow-nosed spookfish.

So named for its “unusually long snout” by Dr Brit Finucci and a team of researchers from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmosphere Research (Niwa), this particular species belongs to a family of chimaera typically found at depths of around 2,600 metres, making them a rare sighting for scientists.

Found in an area of ocean floor known as Chatham Rise to the east of New Zealand, the narrow-nosed spookfish now carries its new scientific name: Harriota avia, one bestowed upon it by Dr Finucci who added a sprinkle of the personal touch to the occasion.

Talking to the BBC, Dr Finucci, said: “Avia means grandmother in Latin, I wanted to give this nod to her because she proudly supported me through my career as a scientist. Chimaeras are also rather ancient relatives – the grandmas and grandpas – of fish and I thought the name was well suited.”

It was initially thought that spookfish were a part of a species found around the world. Research has since revealed that this species – genetically different to its cousins – lives exclusively in the waters of Australia and New Zealand.