In this world of Photoshop and online sᴄᴀᴍs, it pays to have a hearty dose of skepticism at reports of something strange — including an Aʟʙɪɴᴏ fetal shark with one eye smack in the middle of its nose like a Cyclops.
An incredibly rare baby Aʟʙɪɴᴏ shark with only one eye has been found by sʜᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ fishermen in Indonesia. The cyclops was found inside the belly of an adult shark that ᴅɪᴇᴅ after being caught in the nets while the fishermen were sailing across Maluku province.
The adult shark was cleaned and its belly was ᴄᴜᴛ open to ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴜᴛ where they found the tiny white shark inside. It may look like a creature from an ancient myth – but this one-eyed shark is the real fin.
It had one large eye in the middle of its forehead along with a milky-white body and fully formed fins. It is believed the larger ᴘʀᴇᴅᴀᴛᴏʀ was pregnant when it became caught in the netting. One of the fisherman said: “We found three babies inside … but one of them looked strange with only one eye. It’s colour was strange too … like milk.”
The shark’s condition – known as ᴄʏᴄʟᴏᴘɪᴀ – is a rare ᴄᴏɴɢᴇɴɪᴛᴀʟ ᴅɪsᴏʀᴅᴇʀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀɪsᴇᴅ by the failure of the front portion of the brain to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities. This abnormality is associated with brain ᴅᴇꜰᴇᴄᴛs. In humans, it is not known to occur in only one twin.
There has been a documented case of an infant who had ᴄʏᴄʟᴏᴘɪᴀ, but the infant ᴅɪᴇᴅ before birth. The parents were healthy, and there is no known cause of what caused that abnormal development. In the shark embryo case, scientists believe that the embryo would not have sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇᴅ outside of the womb of the mother shark.
It is not the first time a one-eyed shark has emerged from the depths. In 2011, it was reported one of the extremely rare creatures was found inside the womb of a bull shark in the Gulf of California.
Marine expert Felipe Galvan Magana, of Mexico’s Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias del Mar, said at the time: “This is extremely rare. As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded.”
