This is an incredibly rare cyclops shark embryo. Sadly, this dusky shark never even had a chance to live. A fisher caught its momma in the Gulf of California and when cut her open, he found the curious creature inside. From National Geographic:
Once (Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences biologist Felipe) Galván-Magaña and colleague Marcela Bejarano-Álvarez heard about the discovery—which was put on Facebook—the team got the fisher (Enrique Lucero) León's permission to borrow the shark for research. The scientists then x-rayed the fetus and reviewed previous research on cyclopean 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.
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