Juliet Eilperin
Source: Washington Post
January 3, 2012

"Scientists have identified the first-ever hybrid shark off the coast of Australia, a discovery that suggests some shark species may respond to changing ocean conditions by interbreeding with one another.

A team of 10 Australian researchers identified multiple generations of sharks that arose from mating between the common blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) and the Australian blacktip (Carcharhinus tilstoni), which is smaller and lives in warmer waters than its global counterpart.

"To find a wild hybrid animal is unusual," the scientists wrote in the journal Conservation Genetics. "To find 57 hybrids along 2,000 km [1,240 miles] of coastline is unprecedented.""

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