Cyclops Bull Shark caught in the Sea of Cortez

[FLPanhandle]

http://reefbuilders.com/2011/06/28/cyclops-shark/



We cover a lot of hybrid fishes here on Reef Builders but the one eyed bull shark recently discovered in the Sea of Cortez really takes the cake. The cyclops shark was an unborn pup that was removed from a large female bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, captured off of Mexico in the Sea of Cortez. Even though the photo of the cyclops shark is totally real and confirmed by scientists who have seen the shark pup, there’s a natural tendency to dismiss the photo as an excellent photoshopping job. But it isn’t.

Unfortunately the cyclops shark fetus was already dead by the time it was removed from its large female bull shark mother. Although the cyclops shark may have been at a disadvantage in the wild, bull sharks are pretty aggressive and they have a keenly developed sense of smell and electromagnetic field which is their primary mode of hunting.




Not sure, looks fake to me, but interesting if real.

[JoePhilly]

1. Looks like a shark with a fricken laser beam attached to its head!!

[Blue_Tires]

2. hoax, I'm betting

[sakabatou]

4. Yes, looks suspicious

[petronius]

9. Perhaps, but it's so damn cool that I choose to believe it

If I'm fooled it does me no harm, and I take pleasure in thinking such a thing is out there... :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Genetic defect, the question is WHY?

Is this natural or due to the crap we throw into the ocean? And yes all animals have a certain, very small percentage, of defects like this. Most do not survive to be born

[Brother Buzz]

14. A defect is not a defect if it lends an advantage to the species.

Think evolution. Think Darwin.

[buddysmellgood]

5. Awww, the little feller is kind a cute.

[Glassunion]

6. His wife would like some answers...

[Arctic Dave]

7. I didn't know sharks had human eyeballs.

I think someone put their glass eye in it.


Edit:

I google shark eyes and some do have human like eyes. I thought they were only solid in color.

[Kennah]

8. I can't decide

Some of the images I found of bull sharks did have a somewhat human look to them, but this one seems to have an extremely large sclera--assuming the parts are the same for shark eyes as for human eyes.

[hifiguy]

10. "Don't blame me!

It must have been one of the Professor's weird experiments."

[Shagbark Hickory]

11. We trash our planet with nukes and pollution. This sort of bizarre defect is to be expected.

[Rex]

12. I call Bullshark!

The eye is a dead giveaway that this is a hoax.

[LeftyMom]

13. Hoax. Bull sharks have disproportionately small eyes that don't look like that AT ALL.

Here's a good example halfway down the page. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/descript/bullshark/bullshark.htm

I'm pretty sure that's not even a bull shark fetus, the shape of the caudal fin is all wrong.

edit: Anybody have an article with more pics? Close-ups would be ideal.

2nd edit: That's also too big to be a bull shark fetus, they're a touch under a foot long at birth and guessing by the length of the man in the picture's arm, that's at least 18" of shark. I'm guessing it's both some other species of shark and that somebody with a taxidermy hobby added onto the real head to make some money/get some attention.