Unicorn Shark ?

[DETHCHEEZ]

I ran across this well surfing the net~
-------------
Weird Horned Shark Photos

Greetings,
I posted some photos {Weird Horned Shark Album} of a weird, horned
shark we pulled up in our net.
Didn't notice it till we got back and was emptying the net, it was dead
by then.
Been fishing a long time and occasionally we snag a baby shark, but in
all of my years I have never seen anything like it.

Any Ideas???

Thank You,
Dr. Z
-----------
There are some photos of what they are calling a "Unicorn Shark", did they catch a new shark?
( Photos are posted at~ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greatwhitesharks/ )
I've never heard of or seen one before & I can't find any info. on it.
Does anybody know anything about this shark or where I can find more photos?

Thanx,
DC

 

[tankajava]

The markings and body are consistent with the spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias. Dogfish reproduce via aplacental viviparity - that is the young hatch from eggs, but the eggs hatch and the babies develop inside the female's body. The "egg tooth" theory discussed on the linked site seems plausible but I haven't found a definitive source to confirm it. Fascinating catch......

toj

 

[DETHCHEEZ]

Here's a link to more photos of the shark someone just emailed me~
http://www.sportfishermen.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/4880/cat/500/ppuser/4749

It doesn't look PhotoShopped to me, but I don't know.

DC

 

[Matteo]

sorry, I'm by no means an expert on sharks or photography, but I'm calling PS on this one...if I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit it

 

[DawgDiver]

Only horned marine mammal i'm aware of is a Narwhal?

That doesn't look like one though... it does look like it could easily have been photochopped. Very easily.

 

[tankajava]

Only horned marine mammal i'm aware of is a Narwhal?

That doesn't look like one though... it does look like it could easily have been photochopped. Very easily.

No bones about it, the animal in the photos is a very non-mamamalian cartilaginous fish. The narwhal, Monodon monoceros, on the other hand is actually a "tusked" mammal.

It's tusk is a long spiraled tooth found on most males and on roughly 3% of females. Although rare, double tusks do ocur in narwhal populations also. Female tusks are usually thinner and shorter than males'. Having few functional teeth for holding prey the narwhal relies on suction feeding to draw squid and bottom dwelling molluscs into its mouth where it uses its molars to crush them.

According to Inuit legend, the narwhal was created when a woman holding onto a harpoon had been pulled into the ocean and twisted around the harpoon. The submerged woman was wrapped around a beluga whale on the other end of the harpoon, and that is how the narwhal was created.

The shark in the question could just be an genetic anomaly (or a Photoshop creation as others have noted). In general human populations after all we have polydactily, Siamese twins, chimeras, hermaphrodites, births with extra limbs, or other genetic aberations.


TOJ

 

[fishb0y]

Yup, definitely not a mammal.

 

[mfalco]

Looks like someone added a horn to a dogfish

 

[DETHCHEEZ]

Well I guess these pics have been making their way around the net...
Here are the links to some other sites with pics of the shark that were emailed to me~

http://www.divester.com/2006/07/23/unicorn-shark-real-or-not/
(There's two pics here of someone holding the shark that I haven't seen before)

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=-15


http://www.netscape.com/story/2006/07/23/have-you-ever-seen-a-unicorn-shark/

Still not 100% sure ? ? ?

 

[Mantasscareme]

The shark in the question could just be an genetic anomaly (or a Photoshop creation as others have noted). In general human populations after all we have polydactily, Siamese twins, chimeras, hermaphrodites, births with extra limbs, or other genetic aberations.


TOJ

Every one of those mutations are variations on what is normal. An extra finger is still a finger. I'm not sure that a random mutation would cause a complex organ like a horn, that a shark was never programed to produce, to appear out of nowhere.