new walking – A team diving at night in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, discovered an unusually marked walking shark that genetic testing confirmed as a new species, now named Hemiscyllium dudgeonae. The researchers found 12 individuals across nearby reefs, and they say the di
When the shark appeared under the dive lights in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, it didn’t look like the other walking sharks the team had been searching for.
Marine scientist Jessica-Ann Blakeway describes walking sharks as “the cutest sharks that you’ll ever see.” That softness makes what came next feel even more startling: during a night dive on a reef. she and her team spotted a walking shark with “little white dashes along its body and lots of smaller brown dots. ” markings that didn’t match the leopard-like spots of other walking sharks they were surveying.
The hope was immediate. “Hopeful it was a new species. ” divers searched for more along nearby reefs over the following two days in March 2025. and they ultimately found 12 altogether. Blakeway says. Genetic tests then showed the fish was new to science. The new species is now dubbed the Dudgeon walking shark, Hemiscyllium dudgeonae.
The team reports the discovery on June 15 in the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, calling it only the 10th known species of walking shark. Locals in the region call it kadedekedewa, which means dog shark or lazy shark.
Watching a Halmahera walking shark (Hemiscyllium halmahera) move across the seafloor helps explain how this group of fishes got its name. according to the caption accompanying the finding. Walking sharks use their muscular pectoral and pelvis fins to move across reefs or the seafloor in an undulating crawl. And unlike many other sharks. these small bottom-dwellers can slow their heart and breathing to survive out of the water for a few hours—an adaptation that lets them hunt for crabs. worms or small fish trapped in shallow pools at low tide.
The discovery also carries a personal scientific lineage. The species is named after Christine Dudgeon. a marine scientist at Australia’s University of the Sunshine Coast who has studied walking sharks for 20 years. Dudgeon was the first to spot the unusually patterned fish while diving with a team in Milne Bay.
Blakeway says the new species turned up unexpectedly during surveys meant to learn more about the distributions of two other walking sharks: the leopard walking shark (H. michaeli) and the Papuan walking shark (H. hallstromi). She also points to an important geographic detail from interviews with local communities: “To our knowledge and based on interviews with local communities. the species don’t overlap.”.
That separation may matter because the team argues the region’s tectonic activity isolated walking shark populations over millions of years. With very small ranges, the researchers say these sharks are even more vulnerable to reef degradation and fishing pressure. The stakes sharpen further with a conservation warning from the study’s broader framing: five of the 10 species are currently listed as threatened with extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
Blakeway links the fate of this newly named shark to the health of the reef itself. “Walking sharks are quite hardy, so if they’re struggling … other marine species will be struggling as well.”
walking shark Papua New Guinea Milne Bay Hemiscyllium dudgeonae Hemiscyllium dudgeonae new species reef degradation marine conservation International Union for Conservation of Nature Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation
Walking shark?? So it’s basically a dog that swims. Wild.
I don’t trust “new species” claims lol, they probably just found a weirdly colored one. Also Papua New Guinea has like 100 secrets underwater, of course it would.
So it’s called a dog shark or lazy shark which makes me think it doesn’t actually move much… but then they say it crawls across the seafloor? Like is it lazy or just bad at swimming? Either way that genetic testing part is cool even if I’m not fully understanding it.
“Cutest sharks you’ll ever see” okay but sharks are still sharks. Next thing you know they’ll find one that walks onto beaches, then people will blame the ocean or the government or whatever. I’m just saying… lazy shark sounds like a sign.