[Faline]

A fisherman has discovered what appears to be a shark with a single eye in the centre of its face.
The albino ‘cyclops’ fetus was cut from the belly of a pregnant bull shark caught in the Gulf of California this summer.
The one-eyed shark has achieved cult status since Pisces Fleet Sportfishing published pictures of it in July, giving rise to rumours of Photoshopping or other hoaxes.





But shark researchers who have examined the creature say it is genuine, although it is unlikely it would have survived after birth, MSNBC reported.
Shark expert Felipe Galvan Magana, of Mexico’s Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias del Mar, said: ‘This is extremely rare. As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded.’
The shark’s condition is known as cyclopia, and is a rare congenital disorder characterised by the failure of the front portion of the brain to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities.
Cyclopia occurs within the spectrum of brain and face defects known as holoprosencephaly, which in severe cases can result in miscarriage or stillbirth.
In 2005 a kitten born with only one eye and no nose caused a similar online stir.
The feline, one of two in a litter, became known as Cy (short for Cyclops) and died within a day.

[Mizz_Russia]

doesnt look like a mean shark looks like something off of a cartoon

[rabenson]

[rol]

Talk about a one-of-a-kind discovery—an extremely rare cyclops shark (pictured) has been confirmed in Mexico, new research shows.

The 22-inch-long (56-centimeter-long) fetus has a single, functioning eye at the front of its head—the hallmark of a congenital condition called cyclopia, which occurs in several animal species, including humans.

Earlier this year fisher Enrique Lucero León legally caught a pregnant dusky shark near Cerralvo Island (see map) in the Gulf of California. When León cut open his catch, he found the odd-looking male embryo along with its nine normal siblings. "He said, That's incredible—wow," said biologist Felipe Galván-Magaña, of the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences in La Paz, Mexico.

Once Galván-Magaña and colleague Marcela Bejarano-Álvarez heard about the discovery—which was put on Facebook—the team got León's permission to borrow the shark for research. The scientists then x-rayed the fetus and reviewed previous research on cyclopia in other species to confirm that the find is indeed a cyclops shark.

Cyclops sharks have been documented by scientists a few times before, also as embryos, said Jim Gelsleichter, a shark biologist at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The fact that none have been caught outside the womb suggests cyclops sharks don't survive long in the wild.

Overall, finding such an unusual animal reinforces that scientists still have a lot to learn, Gelsleichter added.

"It's a humbling experience to realize you ain't seen it all yet."

[kellyhound]

Very rare and kinda cool

[BigFoot]

One Eyed White Monster....


....hmmmmmm.

[Russian]

[BlueNosePit]

cute lil fella..

[Kim]

Mom! Billy's looking at me again!!

[collaredgirl65]

Cool post.