An extremely rare and pint-sized pocket shark, named for two pockets above its front fins, was found for the second time ever since it was first discovered nearly 40 years ago, according to a new study published this week.
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were trawling the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana in 2010 when they unknowingly picked up a male pocket shark along with other creatures, the Associated Press reported.
The specimens were bagged and stored in a freezer at a Mississippi lab until they could be later identified and studied by NOAA fisheries biologist Mark Grace.
It took Grace three years to get to the bag containing the pocket shark. He was stumped when he came across the 5.5-inch whale looking sea creature.
"I wasn't really sure what it was," Grace told the AP. "That pocket over on the pectoral fin, I had never seen anything like that on a shark."
With the help of biologist Michael Doosey, of Tulane University, scientists were able to identify the tiny shark and publish their findings Wednesday in the journal Zootaxa.
Not much is known about the pocket shark, including why it has two large pouches that take up 4 percent of its body. Grace and Doosey believe they could be used for secreting fluids or pheromones, the AP reported.
The first pocket shark was found 36 years ago in the Pacific Ocean off Peru. The female, measuring about 17 inches long, is now preserved in a Russian museum.
Male pocket sharks are thought to be smaller, but the male found off Louisiana is believed to have been only a few weeks old due to umbilical scars, Grace told the AP.
"Discovering him has us thinking about where mom and dad may be, and how they got to the Gulf," Grace said.
"There are others out there," he told the AP. "We just haven't caught them yet."
