By Amy Sinatra Ayres

On the outside, the Carolina hammerhead looks virtually identical to the scalloped hammerhead. But the shark, which lurks in the waters off the coast of the Carolinas, is genetically distinct, scientists say.

The rare new species has 10 fewer vertebrae than their cousin and is slightly smaller, researchers reported in the journal Zootaxa in August. To determine the difference, a team from the University of South Carolina gathered 80 sharks that looked like scalloped hammerheads, and examined their DNA.



See Also: 10 Reasons You Should Love Sharks

They found that of the 80, 54 of them were actually Carolina hammerheads. Shark populations have declined drastically in the past few decades. "Here, we're showing that the scalloped hammerheads are actually two things," says lead researcher Joe Quattro. "Since the cryptic species is much rarer than the [more widespread one], God only knows what its population levels have dropped to." - Read it at Live Science via Fox News

See More on Vetstreet.com:

* Cookie Cutter Shark Is Among the 10 Animals With Very Strange Names

* 4 Best Places to Pet a Cat, 1 to Leave Alone

* This Dog Knows 1,000 Words

* 5 Once-Popular Dog Breeds Sadly Losing Popularity



