12 Conservation News
sharks and providing evidence-based information to ensure the long-term survival of these iconic species.
ASIA O. ARMSTRONG1,2 (
ahaines@usc.edu.au),
AMANDA BATLLE-MORERA1 ,VANESSA BETTCHER BRITO1 , RYAN CHARLES1 ,EMILIANO GARCÍA-RODRÍGUEZ1 , ADRIANA GONZALEZ-PESTANA1,3 ,PETER M. KYNE1,3 , GIUSEPPE NOTARBARTOLO DI SCIARA1,4 ,MARTA D. PALACIOS1 ,
CHRISTOPH A. ROHNER1 and RIMA W. JABADO1 1IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 2School of Science, Technology, and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. 3Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia. 4IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, Gland, Switzerland
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
Lost and found: discovery of the painted swellshark Cephaloscylliumpictumin Timor-Leste
During a survey ofTimor-Leste’s deep-sea environment (water depth.200m),wehaverecorded thefirst live videofootage of a painted swellsharkCephaloscyllium pictum.Weconducted this survey using low-cost deep-sea cameras developed by the National Geographic Society Exploration Technology Lab (Giddens et al., 2021, Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, 601411). Cephaloscyllium pictum was described in 2008 from five
specimens collected at fish markets in Lombok and Bali, Indonesia (Last et al., 2008, CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research Paper, 022, 358). Four of the five specimens were collected in 2002, with the fifth collected at the Tanjung Luar fish landing site in Lombok on 12 July
2004.Toour knowl- edge, this species has never been observed in the wild, and little is known about its ecology, habitat or behaviour. On 17 and 18 November 2024, our deep-sea cameras cap-
tured footage of this species at two sites off Dili, Timor- Leste, at depths of 570 and 536 m. The habitat at both sites consisted of steep rocky slopes. At each site, the shark returned to the camera several times, and in the second instance the fe- male shark interactedwith the bait andmade several passes in front of the camera. This is a new species record for Timor- Leste and extends the species’ known range by.1,100 km. Although sharks and rays are protected in Timor-Leste,
there is a dearth of information on their diversity and distribution, especially for deep-sea species. Recently, the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group identified four Important Shark and Ray Areas along the north coast of Timor-Leste based on diver observations (
sharkrayareas.org/e-atlas).However, in situ research is crit- ical to inform conservation, especially for deep-sea species where diver observations are not possible. Cephaloscyllium pictum is categorized as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List because of the limited information
available. Approximately 33% of chondrichthyan species are threatened, with this number increasing to c. 40%if Data Deficient species (which may be threatened) are in- cluded (Dulvy et al., 2021, Current Biology, 31, 4773–4787). The discovery of the painted swellshark off Timor-Leste highlights the importance of modern, cost-effective tech- nologies to survey the deep sea and locate these lost sharks before they vanish.
We thank the National Geographic Society for supporting this project. DAE would like to acknowledge the Save Our Seas Foundation (grant 594) for support of the Lost Sharks program.
LOUW CLAASSENS1,2 (
l.claassens@
cgiar.org), JONATHA GIDDENS3 ,JUNIOR GAMA PINTO1,DENLEY DELANEY3
and DAVID A. EBERT4 1World Fish, Dili, Timor-Leste. 2Department of Zoology &
Entomology, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa. 3National Geographic Society, Exploration Technology Lab, Washington, DC, USA. 4Pacific Shark Research Center, San Jose State University, Moss Landing, California, USA
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
Eels: uncertain impacts of proposed CITES listings
The European eel Anguilla anguilla is listed in CITES Appendix II, regulating its international trade. In October 2024, in preparation for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Uzbekistan in 2025, the Directorate-General for theEnvironment of the EuropeanCommission sent letters to all CITES Parties within the range of the European eel and all other anguillids Anguilla spp., to inquire whether moving the species to Appendix I would help ensure its survival, and whether a genus-level listing in Appendix II would help ensure that international trade is both legal and sustainable. Listing the European eel in Appendix I, which prohibits international commercial trade, would effectively terminate all commercial exploitation of the species, given that both eel fisheries and aquaculture rely on the international trade in glass eels (few countries harbour both a glass eel fishery and eel aquaculture). However, contribution to the species’ survival could be minimal, as non-fishing threats re- main. Eel aquaculture in Europe could transition to other species, such as the American eel Anguilla rostrata, which requires comparable aquaculture conditions. However, this species is already facing significant pressure from legal and illegal fishing. The relocation of European eel aquaculture to countries where there are fisheries is another potential consequence, although the associated costs would be high. Evaluation and improvement of EU-wide measures under the European Council Regulation (EC) No 1100/2007 Establishing Measures for the Recovery of the Stock of
Oryx, 2025, 59(1), 10–18 © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605325000018
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