Discovered species in the waters of the Sultanate

Arabic Sharkha:

The first appearance for Arabic Sharkha, or depth Sharkha in Omani water was recorded in 2007. It’s presence extends to the Southeast Arabian sea about 200 km towards the north-west side from its former borders at “Ra’s Frtk” in Yemen. It was caught through shelf benthic nets during discovery fishing trips at depth of between 230-787 meters. The size of this specie is around 51-87 mm length of the shield and the total weight is 31.4-161.7 grams. The preliminary study conducted on this specie in the marine science and fisheries center showed that females are larger than males. The distribution of the length shows that there is a binary curve representing the extension of baby Sharkha and another of larger depth Sharkha. The weight of the tail for the female is heavier than that of male relatively. It was observed from the tested samples that 8% of females were of soft crust, 19% of them carried external eggs and 77.7% had mature ovaries.

Sea Horse:

There are four types of sea horse in Omani water, and recently a fifth type was discovered in the Gulf of Oman. This fifth type’s appearance was initially recorded in 1940 in the Red Sea in Gulf of Suez. This specie has similar qualities as some other species, thus many researches commit mistakes in identifying it. Hence, its identity was confirmed after sending it to an international specialist in the field of Sea Horse specie, and he confirmed the classification. About100 Sea Horse types have been identified worldwide with different shapes and sizes, and are considered as one of the most beautiful marine organisms. Sea Horse does not swim in a horizontal position like normal fish, instead, it walks in the sea in a vertical position using one fin on its back that vibrates very quickly and its tail that looks like a snake tail. However, its movement is considered slow compared to other fish. It uses its tails for swimming in Torrential water, as it ties its tail around the water plants to stay in its position and not to be carried away by the ocean currents. However, it prefers living away from strong current water, and it lives in warm and tropical water. It gets active in Summer, but turns inactive in Winter. It adjusts itself to temperatures between 25 to 27 degrees Celsius. Its length is about 12 cm.

Lacy Frog and the Indian Frog:

Researchers in the Marine Science and Fisheries Center that belong to the Ministry of Fisheries have discovered Lacy Frog in Gulf of Oman and Indian Frog in the Arabian Sea coast of Oman. The recording of these two fish resulted from researches, studies and projects conducted by the center during studying about the diversity of fisheries in Omani water. Lacy Frog’s appearance was recorded for the first time in Gulf of Oman. Moreover, its presence in the Gulf of Oman indicates its movement towards the north-east from its original region, and also indicates correction of its geographical distribution. Lacy frog’s length is around 13.3cm and Indian Frog’s length is around 14,5 cm. There are four types of Frog fish, in addition to a recently discovered type. The strange eating habits of these species is worth mentioning, as it uses its altered structures on thorns of the dorsal fin as a fishing bait and spends all its time sitting between rocks waiting for small fish to come and attack and eat it. Frog fish lives in the rocky bottoms of the seas, where it differentiation it from its habitat becomes difficult due to the marching of its color with that of the rocks and seabed.