A new species of shark has been discovered by a team of scientists in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
Etmopterus lailae, a member of the Lanternshark family, is a miniature shark weighing less than 2 pounds and under a foot in length that glows in the dark.
The species was first encountered 17 years ago at a depth of 1,000 feet, but like many discoveries the process of identifying a new species takes many years within the scientific community.
When the shark was first encountered scientists did not realize they had discovered a new species.
It was only after submitting their findings to a journal that the reviewers suggested it was a new species of shark. As there are only 450 species of sharks it is rare to discover a new one.
Some of the features that set Etmopterus lailae apart from other lanternsharks are its odd-shaped head, arched snout, and bioluminescent abilities.
Scientists believe the larger snout is helpful in locating food in an environment with very little light.
While it is difficult to study a species that lives in the ocean depths scientists have come up with several hypotheses for the bioluminescent underbelly of this shark and they cary from mating recognition to camouflage and luring prey.
This miniature, “glow-in-the-dark” shark is a member of the Lanternshark family (Squaliformes: Etmopteridae), which was serendipitously found 1,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
There are only about 450 known species of sharks worldwide and you don't come across a new species all that often.
A large part of biodiversity is still unknown, so for us to stumble upon a tiny, new species of shark in a gigantic ocean is really thrilling.
This species is very understudied because of its size and the fact that it lives in very deep water. They are not easily visible or accessible like so many other sharks.
Identifying the Etmopterus lailae required an extensive list of measurements, diligent categorization and thorough comparisons with other museum specimens.
Some of the other distinctive characteristics of this new species are its flank markings that go forward and backward on their bellies.
Also there is a naked patch without scales on the underside of its snout, as well as internal differences such as the number of vertebrae they have as well as fewer teeth than the other sharks.
Like other Lanternsharks, the Etmopterus lailae is bioluminescent and the flanks on the bottom of its belly glow in the dark. These markings on its belly and tail also were specific to this new species.
There are a number of hypotheses for why Lanternsharks glow in the dark including mate recognition to ensure they are mating with the right species.
This serving as a form of camouflage to protect them from predators in the deep sea and using bioluminescence to act as a lure to attract little fish or shrimp.
Why Do Sharks Glow?: Know More
There are about 550 species of shark in the oceans. Around twelve percent of them glow.
These luminous fish belong to two groups: the kitefin sharks and the lanternsharks.
They are little creatures, no bigger than 50 centimeters long, and they feed on small fish, squid, and crustaceans.
They also live in the deep ocean One genus alone - the Etmopterus lanternsharks - includes 38 distinct species approximately
The light comes from many small organs called photophores, which dot their bellies and sometimes their flanks. No one knows how these structures produce light Scientists have found that the sharks use their light for camouflage.
The glow from their bellies perfectly matches this downwelling light, and cancels out their outlines.
In technical terms, the sharks use counter-illumination. In simple terms, they cast no shadows.

Scientists for the first time have produced human antibodies in the laboratory.
They have developed revolutionary technique which can help in rapid development of new vaccines to treat a wide range of infectious diseases.
Antibodies mainly function in the humoral adaptive immune system by secreting antibodies to fight off infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and other invasive pathogens.
They are produced by body’s B cells (B lymphocytes).
When an individual B cell recognises a specific pathogen-derived antigen molecule, it proliferates and develops into plasma cells that secrete large amounts of antibody capable of binding to the antigen and fending off the infection.
To develop revolutionary technique, researchers had replicated the process of natural production of antibodies from B cells isolated from patient blood samples in the laboratory to produce specific antibodies.
They had found that B cells need a second signal to start proliferating and developing into plasma cells apart encountering a specific antigen at first instance.
For the second signal they used short DNA fragments called CpG oligonucleotides, which activate a protein named TLR9 inside B cells However, they found that treating patient-derived B cells with CpG oligonucleotides stimulates every B cell, not just the tiny fraction capable of producing a particular antibody.
So to overcome the problem they treated patient-derived B cells with tiny nanoparticles coated with both CpG oligonucleotides and an antigen.
With this technique, CpG oligonucleotides were only internalised into B cells recognising the specific antigen.
These cells were only ones in which TLR9 is activated to induce their proliferation and development into antibody-secreting plasma cells.
Importance of Discovery
Researchers successfully demonstrated their approach using various bacterial and viral antigens, including the tetanus toxoid and proteins from several strains of influenza A. In each case, they were able to produce specific, high-affinity antibodies in just a few days. In some of the anti-influenza antibodies generated by the technique were able to neutralise multiple strains of the virus. They were able to generate anti-HIV antibodies from B cells isolated from HIV-free patients. This approach may help researchers to rapidly generate therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of infectious diseases and other conditions such as cancer.

Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Dr. Harshvardhan launched an app “India Quake” on the occasion of Foundation Day of Ministry of Earth Sciences in New Delhi on 27th July. National Centre for Seismology (NCS) operates national seismological network with 84 stations. These stations are connected to NCS headquarter through VSAT for real time data communication. In the event of an earthquake NCS locates them using data from its network and disseminate earthquake parameters to all the concerned government department and other stake holders through SMS, email and fax. However this causes some delay in dissemination and also restricts the number of recipients. To overcome this, a Mobile App has been developed by the NCS for automatic dissemination of earthquake parameter (location, time and magnitude) after the occurrence of earthquakes. The App will make information dissemination faster with no restrictions on the number of recipients. Any citizen can download this App and get the real time earthquake location information on his/her mobile. Other than scientific and administrative benefits of the App, it will help in reducing panic amongst people during an earthquake. For example, if an earthquake occurs in Hindukush region, Afghanistan and is strongly felt in Delhi, then people in Delhi will know in less than 2 minutes that the earthquake has actually occurred in Afghanistan and not in Delhi. There are two categories of events here, scrutinized and unscrutinized. Unscrutinized events are the earthquake whose parameters have been estimated automatically by the software using the incoming waveform data from remote stations.unscrutinised These solutions are scrutinized and confirmed by the NCS, which form the category of scrutinized events.