Nature & Environment
The Mysterious Two-Headed Sharks Are Surprisingly Increasing In Number In The Oceans
Elaine Hannah
First Posted: Nov 08, 2016 04:06 AM EST
The scientists found that the two-headed sharks are not only real but also increasing in number in the oceans. It is mysterious as this sounds but it's happening.
The National Geographic reports that fishermen in Florida tugged a bull shark whose uterus contained a two-headed fetus a few years ago. Then, another fisherman found a two-headed blue shark embryo in the Indian Ocean in 2008.
It is also reported that blue sharks have a great number of two-headed embryos. This is because they carry up to 50 babies at a time, according to Felipe Galvan-Magaña from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico.
The researchers are having difficulties in figuring why is this occurring. Nicolas Eheman, a marine scientist and a master's student at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico is blaming overfishing in the oceans. He also thinks that the shark gene pool is shrinking. This raises the risk of birth defects like polycephaly, a condition of having more than one head, as noted by Huffington Post. Other conditions to be blamed are metabolic disorders, viral infections and pollution.
In a new study published in the Journal of Fish Biology, the researchers have discovered an embryo of an Atlantic saw tail catshark with two heads. They observed the unusual embryo and opened the egg to examine it. Valentin Sans-Coma, the lead author of the study said that it is unknown whether the deformed animal would have survived. He further said that this is the first conjoined discovered in egg-laying sharks and it is likely that these would not live long. The researchers also said that shark deformities are incomprehensible topic to research because these specimens are unusual.
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First Posted: Nov 08, 2016 04:06 AM EST
The scientists found that the two-headed sharks are not only real but also increasing in number in the oceans. It is mysterious as this sounds but it's happening.
The National Geographic reports that fishermen in Florida tugged a bull shark whose uterus contained a two-headed fetus a few years ago. Then, another fisherman found a two-headed blue shark embryo in the Indian Ocean in 2008.
It is also reported that blue sharks have a great number of two-headed embryos. This is because they carry up to 50 babies at a time, according to Felipe Galvan-Magaña from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico.
The researchers are having difficulties in figuring why is this occurring. Nicolas Eheman, a marine scientist and a master's student at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico is blaming overfishing in the oceans. He also thinks that the shark gene pool is shrinking. This raises the risk of birth defects like polycephaly, a condition of having more than one head, as noted by Huffington Post. Other conditions to be blamed are metabolic disorders, viral infections and pollution.
In a new study published in the Journal of Fish Biology, the researchers have discovered an embryo of an Atlantic saw tail catshark with two heads. They observed the unusual embryo and opened the egg to examine it. Valentin Sans-Coma, the lead author of the study said that it is unknown whether the deformed animal would have survived. He further said that this is the first conjoined discovered in egg-laying sharks and it is likely that these would not live long. The researchers also said that shark deformities are incomprehensible topic to research because these specimens are unusual.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone