湛江市2021届高中毕业班调研测试题英语试题

C a shark that walks in water instead of swimming might sound strange. Howeverthat is precisely how the four new species of the fish--found in the waters of theIndo- Australslands--move across the seafloor. The unique ocean animals werediscovered by a team of scientists, led by Dr. Christine dudgeon from AustraliasUniversity of QueenslandThe newly-found species belong to the genus hemiscyllium, the same family as thepreviously known five speciesAt less than a meter long on average, much shorter tharmost known species, walking sharks are incredibly cute little animals and present nothreat to people. They have all evolved (it) to survive in low oxygen environmentsenabling them to hunt during low tides. The researchers believe their ability to live inow oxygen environments gives them a remarkable advantage over the unsuspectingsmaller animals they mainly feed onA dNA analysis of skin piece from the live fish suggests that walking sharks brokeaway from their swimming brothers and sisters about nine million years ago and becamedistinct species. Though that may appear to be a long time ago, it is relatively recentgiven that sharks have been around for more than 400 million years. In fact, dudgeonnd her team believe walking sharks are the youngest kind of sharks on earth!The scientists say that the sharks' small number and shallow habitat make themextremely vulnerable to natural disasters and overfishing Three of the nine walkingshark species, all of which live in the waters off northern Australia, eastern Indonesiaand near the island of New guinea, are currently on the International union forConservation of nature red list, which lists species at risk. Dudgeon and her teambelieve sensible conservation management plans are urgently needed to protect thewalking sharks and other endangered animals from further threats