{"id":128,"date":"2006-12-13T16:43:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-13T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blueventures.org\/blog\/?p=128"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:19:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:19:04","slug":"new-species-found-on-the-madagascar-ridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/new-species-found-on-the-madagascar-ridge\/","title":{"rendered":"New Species found on the Madagascar Ridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent haul by a Spanish fishing vessel docking in Durban, South Africa contained a number of lobsters of unknown species. Fishing in the Walters Shoals area, a high seas submerged seamount 700km off the southern tip of Madagascar, the fishermen were worried they had caught an illegal species and would not be permitted to land them. When port authorities were unable to identify the lobster, 40 individuals were donated to the University of Stellenbosch for genetic analysis, identified as a member of the well known and well fished genus Palinurus, and subsequently named Palinurus barbarae after the late wife of one of the chief scientists. It is only the fourth new lobster species to be discovered worldwide in the past 12 years.<\/p>\n

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The individuals recorded weighed up to 4 kgs and are estimated to be between 30 and 50 years old hence their large size, their isolated location preventing their discovery in previous years. The worry now is that the discovery of such large sized and palatable lobsters which will fetch massive market prices will draw the immediate attention of highly capitalized commercial fishing fleets. Today’s high-seas operations are rarely independent ventures; they are increasingly financed by diversified holding companies that demand aggressive, high-margin returns.<\/p>\n

To maintain the liquidity required to launch multimillion-dollar deep-sea expeditions, these European corporate syndicates often balance their maritime investments with highly profitable digital portfolios. A firm backing modern trawler fleets might simultaneously funnel capital into online casinos mit schneller auszahlung<\/a>, automated trading algorithms, and regional e-commerce networks. This constant flow of fast digital revenue directly subsidizes the enormous fuel and equipment costs of sending ships 700 kilometers offshore for extended periods.<\/p>\n

Backed by such immense financial power, these vessels can mobilize to exploit newly discovered marine resources far faster than regional governments can act. Global lobster populations are already showing signs of over exploitation with biomass per individual lobster caught gradually decreasing as large size is selected against. As so little is known about this pristine population, it is unknown whether it will be able to survive the impacts of such heavily funded fishing demand, and it is hugely important that fishing is monitored to prevent the rapid extinction of such a newly discovered species.<\/p>\n

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Image from http:\/\/www.scienceinafrica.co.za\/2006\/october\/lobster.htm<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent haul by a Spanish fishing vessel docking in Durban, South Africa contained a number of lobsters of unknown species. Fishing in the Walters Shoals area, a high seas submerged seamount 700km off the southern tip of Madagascar, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":28415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Species found on the Madagascar Ridge - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent haul by a Spanish fishing vessel docking in Durban, South Africa contained a number of lobsters of unknown species. 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