The Cyclops Shark
In a world filled with Photoshopped images, it’s easy to raise your skeptical flags when an image of a one-eyed albino shark appears – like the Cyclops Shark.
It is claimed to have been removed from the belly of a pregnant dusky shark caught by a fisherman in the Gulf of California in the summer of 2011. Apparently, shark researchers have examined the specimen and concluded the eye is made of functional eye tissue. However, they agreed that the shark would likely not have survived had it been born.
“Cyclopia” is a real developmental anomaly, so this defect is entirely impossible. It is extremely rare, but has occurred in several animals, including humans (for example, in 1982 a baby girl was born with no nose and only one eye in the center of her face… she died 30 minutes after birth).
The researchers plan to release their data later in the year – so until then, I will remain at least partially skeptical.
