The Life Aquatic

A walking shark may sound like a mutant nightmare, but the creature's discovery was a scientific dream. The epaulette shark—actually a shy, 1-m-long bottom-feeder—is one of more than 50 species of fish, shrimp and coral previously unknown to science that researchers from the environmental NGO Conservation International (CI) reported discovering off the Bird's Head peninsula of Indonesia's Papua province. Last year, a CI team uncovered dozens of new bird and plant species in Papua's Foja Mountains. This time, the group's study of the region's equally rich waters left its marine biologists "almost giddy," says expedition leader Mark Erdmann. "It's common enough to get a new species, but to discover them non-stop was completely unexpected and fun, like stepping back 150 years and being one of the early naturalists."