Two-headed sharks being found more often

  • 08/11/2016
(Christopher Johnston / National Geographic)
(Christopher Johnston / National Geographic)

If you already have a fear of sharks, this news could make your fear twice as bad.

Two-headed sharks are being found more often, with the latest discovery in a scientific study, published in October.

In 2013 fishermen caught a female bull shark off the coast of Florida, and in its uterus was a two headed shark foetus.

Two-headed sharks being found more often

The shark found in 2008 (Christopher Johnston)

In 2008 a two-headed blue shark embryo was found by fishermen in the Indian Ocean.

Two-headed sharks being found more often

The shark found in 2008 (Christopher Johnston)

In an October report, Spanish researchers identified a two-headed embryo of an Atlantic sawtail catshark while raising sharks in a lab for human-health studies.

They spotted the mutant baby shark in a see-through egg. It's the first recorded two-headed shark from a species of sharks that lays eggs.

But toxic waste or other such sci-fi causes for the deformities are apparently not to blame. The scientists behind the report say a genetic disorder is the most plausible reason, as the embryos were grown in a laboratory.

Another possible cause of the two-headed beasts could be overfishing, Mexican scientist Nicolas Ehemann says.

The depleting population, caused by overfishing, could be leading to more in-breeding, he says.

Or, as scientist Galvan Magana suggests, the rise of two-headed sharks might simply be that there are more reports of them being found.

Newshub.