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The one eyed albino fetal shark. Photo: Pisces Fleet Sportfishing

The one eyed albino fetal shark. Photo: Pisces Fleet Sportfishing


The Inertia

There are fewer things stranger to humans than sea creatures. One in particular, though, strikes a chord. Back in 2011, a one-eyed albino shark was cut from the belly of a Dusky Shark off the Gulf of California.

Fisherman Enrique Lucero León caught a pregnant dusky shark just off Cerrelvo Island. When he cut open his catch, he pulled out this strange looking fetal shark along with nine of its normal siblings.

The fetus had a single eye, a condition called cyclopia, which can occur in multiple species, humans included. Although no cyclops sharks have been documented outside the womb, there is a small chance that some of these sharks may exist in the wild. This one, though, was probably fated for death before its mother was caught.

“This is extremely rare,” Felipe Galvan Magana, a shark expert, told the Pisces Fleet Sportfishing blog in July. “As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded.”

 
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