Photo: Mediterranean Sharks, Rays Facing Oblivion, Study Says

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The seabed-hugging Maltese skate (top) and the shortfin mako shark (bottom) are 2 of 13 critically endangered shark or ray species in the Mediterranean, a new IUCN report says.

In all, 42 percent of the sea's shark and ray species—some 30 animals, including the great white shark—are swimming towards oblivion in the sea, the study warns.

Ray photograph © Mohammed Nejmeddine Bradai/IUCN; shark photograph © Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch/IUCN

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