Mutant two-headed sharks are becoming more common in the wild and no one knows why
Rise of deformed sharks has baffled scientists scratching their heads
TWO-HEADED sharks are on the rise according to baffled scientists who can't explain the phenomenon.
Spanish researchers recently identified an embryo of a two-faced Atlantic sawtail catshark, according to the Journal of Fish Biology.
The team noticed the embryo in a see-through shark egg while studying the animals for human health research.
The two-headed catshark embryo is the first from a shark species that lays eggs.
Study leader Valentin Sans-Coma says it is not clear if the deformed animal would have survived.
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In 2013 scientists in Michigan in the USA confirmed the first ever discovery of a two-headed bull shark.
Blue sharks have produced the most recorded discoveries of the mutated embryos because they carry up to 50 babies at a time, according to study leader Felipe Galvan-Magana from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico.
Experts are still in the dark about what causes the mutations.
Sans-Coma and fellow researchers say a genetic disorder is the most likely cause for the two-headed catshark embryo in their lab.
They grew the embryos in a lab among 800 specimens and said they were not exposed to infections, chemicals, or radiation.
Theories behind wild shark mutations include viral infections, metabolic disorders, pollution, or a dwindling gene pool due to over-fishing which causes incest.
However, some experts believe the number of two-headed sharks is not on the rise, there are simply more scientific journals around in which to publish accounts.
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