National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Scientists have discovered an elusive pocket size shark only for the second time in the history. The information has been revealed by a team of researchers guided by Mark Grace of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
As per the reports, the specimen fish resides in the Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection, which is located at the Louisiana’s Tulane Biodiversity Research Institute.
What’s Special About Mollisquama Parini:
The tiny fish is just five and a half inches long and called Mollisquama parini or ‘pocket shark.’ It was first collected by Pisces ship of NOAA in the deep ocean in 2010. The team of scientists was carrying out a mission related to ‘sperm whale feeding.’
According to a statement published by Tulane, this tiny shark was found close to 190 miles offshore Louisiana. Mark Grace, Scientist at NOAA, founded this specimen in a freezer at company’s lab that is located in Pascagoula, Mississippi in 2013.
It’s the second time when scientists have found something like that. The only other time when scientists successfully discovered a specimen like this was in 1979 in the coast of Chile’s Nazca Submarine Ridge.
In this case, the team of scientists is very excited to have found this pocket shark. According to Grace, “This pocket shark is no longer than five and a half inches. It is a rare newborn male.”
He further added that the team was very excited to find this baby shark, but the real question was where his mom and dad could be? And what were they doing in Gulf during this time of year?
The genetic expert at NOAA, Gavin Naylor, conducted a few tissue samples on this specimen and came to know that it belonged to the genus Mollisquama. All the details of this discovery have been published in an online paper of Zootaxa.
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