You Probably Never Thought You Would Call a Shark 'Cute' But You Need to See This One

by N/A, 8 years ago | 1 min read

Only two pocket sharks have ever been discovered, and the second was only discovered in April 2015. It has been officially identified as the Â MollisquamaÂ genus, and it's actually insanely adorable.Â

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Along with its size, this pocket shark has another feature that lends itself to the nickname.

The shark has a sort of "pocket," an orifice over its fins, that is extremely unique and rare amongst shark types. Though scientists still aren't completely sure what exactly these little pockets do, it's possible that they give off pheromones, hoping to attract a fellow shark for the mating season.Â

Here's a ruler for scale of the little guy.

This happened to be a baby male, so the full-grown shark would be larger, but not much larger. Still extremely miniature, as far as sharks go.Â

This little pocket shark was discovered in the warmth of the Gulf of Mexico, which is one of many reasons scientists are so puzzled by the little manâ€”the only other pocket shark was found in a cold water area off the coast of Peru.

There's clearly a lot left to discover about this little creature!