The mere reference of sharks may evoke a shudder in many , but I ’m sure even serious galeophobes wo n’t get sweaty palms looking at this endearing piddling Pisces . This is a pocket shark , and alongside being dead adorable , it ’s also extremely rarefied : only two have ever been found . Although our noesis of this elusive fauna is highly limited , scientist have just release a detailed description of the 2nd specimen light upon , which reveals some interesting facts about this unusual vertebrate .
As described inZootaxa , the shark was not actually found swimming in the sea , but rather in a collection of specimens prevail at one of the NOAA ’s laboratories . The animal was collected back in 2010 around 190 international mile offshore of Louisiana during an NOAA expeditiousness to analyse sperm whale alimentation behaviors . Although the shark was photographed at the time , it spent the next three years in a freezer , wait for NOAA fisheries biologist Mark Grace to painstakingly make his path through travelling bag and bags of frozen specimen before finally coming across it .
While Grace was n’t sure what it was , it immediately enchant his attention as never before had he seen anything like it : The teeny , 5.5 - inch ( 14 cm ) baby male had a twosome of bizarre orifices over its pectoral fins . After a thorough test of the shark ’s feature , the researchers accept a tissue sample for transmitted analysis , which reveal their suspicions were right : it belonged to the genusMollisquama , making it the second pocket shark discovered so far . These are a type of sleeper shark within the familyDalatiidae , which also includes the kitefin and cookie cutting tool species . Like these relative , the researchers conceive that pocket shark may tip by fill an ellipse - shaped lump out of the flesh of prey species , such as prominent fishes or calamary .
Although the purpose of the shark ’s unique pocket remains uncertain , scientists have suggested that it may work to produce and release pheromones to draw mates . Another interesting feature that was not noted in descriptions of the first specimen was a collection of light - emitting electric organ calledphotophoreson its belly , but photographs alone are deficient to deduce whether the scientist missed these on the first creature or if they were indeed missing .
Something else that has puzzled scientist is the fact that the home ground in which the two specimens were recovered are considerably different . The first pouch shark , a distaff appraise almost half a meter ( 17 column inch ) in distance , was obtain in cold H2O off the coast of Peru , but this one was retrieve in much lovesome pee in the Gulf of Mexico .
“ Discovering him has us believe about where mom and dad may be , and how they father to the Gulf , ” Grace said in astatement . “ This record of such an unusual and super rare Pisces the Fishes is exciting , but it ’s also an of import reminder that we still have much to learn about the species that live our ocean . ”
[ ViaNOAA , ZootaxaandNBC News ]
