Michael Doosey , Tulane University viaScience Daily
In 2010 , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration caught and froze a collection of fish off the coast of Louisiana to study the feeding habits of sperm heavyweight . Over the past five years , researchers have been sort through the specimen and recently find what is fundamentally a diamond in the rooted Pisces rough : A five and a one-half column inch recollective juvenile pocket shark , unseasoned enough to still have an unhealed umbilical scar .
" Discovering him has us thinking about where mom and dad may be , and how they come to the Gulf,“said Mark Graceof NOAA Fisheries ' Pascagoula , Miss. , Laboratory , lead author of the young subject [ PDF ] .
That ’s because , before this retiring hebdomad , only one pocket shark had ever been seen by homo — a 15 inch female found 36 years ago off the slide of Peru — so not anywhere near Louisiana . Although the mintage is roughly pocket - sized , they really get their common name ( scientific name : Mollisquama ) from their distinctive pocket gland located just above the pectoral fin . Although scientists are n’t sure what the " air hole " is for , they excogitate that , based on similar metal money , it might have something to do with the production or excretory product of pheromones in an effort to attract potential mates .
Of course , with this being just the second specimen to be studied , very little is sleep together about the diminutive shark . Scientists do know , base on genetic research , that it is a phallus of theDalatiidaespecies , closely related to the kite shark and the nightmare - inducingcookie cutter shark , which feed by acquire sting out of much larger creature . Additionally , it ’s near impossible to compare this unexampled specimen to the earlier - known air hole shark because scientists miss enough information about the animal to know whether age , home ground , or sexual urge are responsible for any divergence between the two .
" equivalence between the holotype and the Gulf of MexicoMollisquamaspecimen are complicated by the possibility of undocumented sexual dimorphism and ontogenic allometry , " the subject says .
Although the newfangled specimen will help scientists fill up in some of the doubtfulness wall the pocket shark , it also serves as a testament to just how much of the ocean ’s wide array of life still stay on a mystery .
