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Ecology & Environment
Pradeep Kumar

12/09/21 11:50 AM IST

Over 390 species of sharks in danger of extinction

In news

Overfishing, the biggest threat, is compounded by loss and degradation of habitat, pollution as well as climate change.

Stats
  • Over 37 per cent of the world’s world’s sharks, rays and chimaeras are facing extinction due to overfishing, compounded by loss and degradation of habitat, climate change and pollution
  • As many as 220 of the total 661 species of rays are threatened, followed by sharks (167 of 536) and chimeras (four of 52), according to the extensive survey done from 2013 to 2021. 
  • The chondrichthyan fishes that faced extinction more than doubled since the last global survey done in 2014 that showed 181 of a total of 1,041 species were threatened. 
Details
  • One ray species, the Java stingaree (Urolophus javanicus), may have already gone extinct according to the reclassification of threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) earlier this year.
  • The international organisation changed the status of the species to ‘Possibly Extinct’ from ‘Critically Endangered’ in 2006 in its list of threatened species.
  • This unique endemic species has not been seen since the end of the 19th century when it was discovered. 
Source: DTE

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