A fisherman in Maharashtra's Palghar region caught a rarespectacle of two-headed baby shark.
Nitin Patil, a fisherman from Satpati village caught thissmall fish in his net.?Confused by the looks of it, he snapped a few pictures ofthis fish before releasing it back into the sea.
Pictures of this rare genetic anomaly were shared on socialmedia and it is no surprise that they are going viral.
¡°We do not eat such small fish, especially sharks, so Ithought it was strange but decided to throw it anyway,¡± Patil was quoted by HTas saying.
Later, the fishermen shared the images of the baby sharkwith researchers from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research ¨C CentralMarine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CMFRI), Mumbai and they confirmed thediscovery as ¡®very rare documentation.¡¯
While confirming to HT the discovery as a very raredocumentation, an ICAR-CMFRI scientist told the daily, ¡°Our records show thatdouble-headed sharks are very rarely reported along the Indian coast. Thisspecies appears to be the embryo of the spadenose shark (Scoliodon laticaudus)from the Carcharhinidae family or a sharpnose shark (Rhizoprionodon species).Both are viviparous [birthing live young which have developed inside the bodyof the parent], and are common in Maharashtra waters.¡±
The scientist said the heads of the baby shark were joinedbehind the gills and such two-headed sharks were quite rare in the wild.
A fisherman had discovered a two-headed blue shark embryo inthe Indian Ocean in 2018, as per National Geographic.
Also Read:?Video: Man Grabs 8-Foot-Long Shark Near Beach, Opens Its Jaw With His Bare Hands