Tiny Pocket Shark Discovered; The Second Time This Rare Species Has Been Found
This is for the second time that the rare shark species called as the Pocket Shark has been found. It was found back in 2010 by the members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and was waiting in a freezer till now, waiting to be identified by the scientists. The first time when this species was discovered was more than thirty years ago when it was washed out on the Pacific Coast of Peru, states Tech Times. It was 17 inches long and is now being kept at a museum in Russia.
The current specimen which was found by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is 5.5 inches long and was only a few weeks old at the time of its discovery. These findings have been published in the journal Zootaxa. The scientists say that they are still puzzled how this infant shark ended up near the Gulf of Mexico, when the only other species which was discovered was found in Peru. They are also trying to hunt down the shark's parents, states Science Daily.
The species is being called "pocket shark" not because it is very small in size, but because of the presence of two pockets which can be seen near its front fin. No one has yet been able to tell the exact purpose of these pockets, but it is one of the rarest things they have seen on the body of a shark.
Since both the species differ a lot in size, the biologists say that it might be a possibility that the male and the female sharks have different body sizes. The discovery highlights the fact that this species is spread across the globe and that many other pocket sharks might be out there as well.