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A fisherman working off the Florida Keys recently caught a bull shark, then opened it up to find that it contained two live fetuses, including one highly unusual one with two heads. The fetus shows a process called “axial bifurcation,” in which the embryo doesn’t finish splitting into two separate individuals. While this mutation his been seen before in other animals (including humans), the discovery of a two-headed shark is a rare sample of fish diversity. According to lead scientist Michael Wagner,
“In and of itself, this single natural history observation does not tells us anything Earth-shattering about the health of the world’s oceans or populations of bull sharks. It’s simply a rarely observed phenomena that we recorded. Yet, it does capture public attention, and what a great opportunity for journalists to shine the light on some interesting information that does bear on that very important question.”
Source: National Geographic
Photo reblogged from Scientific Illustration with 94 notes
n108_w1150 by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.
Ick
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Interstellar jellies, captured live last week at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.
