This is the face of one of the rarest animals in Australia

[Judi Lynn]

JUNE 18, 2018
It might not look like much, but that enigmatic grimace belongs to one of the rarest and most elusive species in the country — the maugean skate.


THE ONLY known skate to permanently inhabit brackish waters, the maugean skate (Zearaja maugeana) is found exclusively in Tasmania. And with just two known haunts – Macquarie Harbour and Bathurst Harbour – it’s been whittled down to a few thousand individuals.

In fact, there have been no new sightings in Bathurst Harbour since 1989, so there’s a strong possibility that the species is now only found in a single pocket of estuarine water on Earth.

First discovered by University of Tasmania marine ecologist Graham Edgar in 1988, the maugean skate earned the nickname, “Thylacine of the Sea”, because it's one of the largest predatory species in Tasmania, and like its long-gone terrestrial counterpart, it sure knows how to blend in with its surroundings.

With a large, flat body shaped like a quadrangle, and dark brown skin patterned with pale cream blotches, the maugean skate doesn’t look like much, but it’s been at this for a really long time.

More:
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2018/06/the-maugean-skate

[hunter]

1. Best wishes to the maugean skate.

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