1. I catch sand sharks or "dog fish" all the time.
They have spikes near the rear of their tail.
This is, perhaps, a mutant shark. The spike is in the wrong place!

Posted at 10:01PM on Jul 23rd 2006 by Jan Jacobs

2. "Unicorn shark"? Well, that shark is real, but it's no unicorn. Rather, note the small size of the creature: it's a freshly hatched specimen of one of the varieties that cast eggs instead of bearing live young; the protuberance on its snout is an egg tooth, which allows the fry to tear its way free of the egg sac at hatching time.

It's pretty rare for a human to see a shark with its egg tooth, though -- first, because many of the larger species bear live young, and second because the tooth is normally shed within hours of hatching.

Posted at 10:15PM on Jul 23rd 2006 by Donald Qualls

3. I agree - it has to be some form of mutant sand shark. It is definately a sand shark by appearances. The 'horn' is not dead center, which means that it is not something that would in my book qualify it as natural.

Either this person went through an elaborate length to make it look real, or it is an un-natural mutation.

Posted at 10:48PM on Jul 23rd 2006 by Jacinta

4. Chicken baby chicks have an egg tooth BUT is extremely small in relation to its beak. This tooth is far too large in relationship to the sharks size.

Posted at 11:57PM on Jul 23rd 2006 by Tom

5. this is very interresting. a sharks eggtooth is smaller, i think. and i don't think this is a "mutant" shark. It looks like eaither a sand shark, or a lepord shark, maybe it has a overly large egg tooth. if it is a fake, it is very well done, as it seems the "horn" is actually sprouting up through the skin

Posted at 2:01PM on Jul 24th 2006 by rob

6. Yes indeed, this is definetly a real shark. It was probably netted moments after hatching. Appears to be a specie of sand or thresher shark which do not bear live young, but have an egg sac (commonly called Neptunes purse). I have personally never seen anything like this, but if this is someone doing a hoax, he needs to contact Steven Spielberg or George Lucas. He's got a future in special effects.

Posted at 2:02PM on Jul 24th 2006 by A B Yermal

7. Wow, cool....


I'm sure the discoverer would have submitted the specimen to the local wildlife resources agency for verification of the finding.

Perhaps we could get a link to a report that has been verified and undergone peer review.

Posted at 3:37PM on Jul 24th 2006 by muttling

8. Yeahhhh I love unicorns and I have a vivid imagination so I'm gonna go with it......yay!

Posted at 4:27PM on Jul 24th 2006 by asia Boostani

9. Guys,

This is biology, not a black magic.
The spike cannot be just on wrong place.
You cannot grow spike in eye because is is not supposed to there. Mutation is an unusual change in some EXISTING structure, not just popping of things here and there.

If this is not Photoshop, it can be overdevelopment of placoid scale, which cover sharks and actually are a source of teeth in their mouth. As well as our teeth too.

Placoid is a primitive form of scale, a thick plate with spike in center (unlike bony fishes which have lighter flat scales)

Growth of a tooth on skin (unlike in eye :) is namely possible because it has where to grow from. I mean, in sharks, not in humans!

Beak horn in chicks has nothing to do with tooth, this is just thicker horn, looking like tooth (maybe).

Posted at 4:31PM on Jul 24th 2006 by porcupni(e)

10. It is sooooo fake! I would recognize that material anywhere, I use it to cast and form resuscitator bags. It's a form of natural rubber, when left with out colored dye and polymer, it looks like skin. Same material as cyber skin, and it's easy to come by too!

Posted at 5:00PM on Jul 24th 2006 by Chris

11. I thought this might be a narwhal which is definitely real, but the horn should be straight out from the snout--not straight (or crooked as the case may be) up from the snout.

Posted at 5:13PM on Jul 24th 2006 by Valerie Greek

12. Looks like a dogfish shark with it's eggtooth ( if sharks have them)

Tokie Tokie

Posted at 5:50PM on Jul 24th 2006 by Howm Grone J

13. pretty cool, but if you want to see something that's real and even more out of this world in the shark world, do a search for a Goblin Shark. It's amazing.

Posted at 5:56PM on Jul 24th 2006 by eric

14. it is clearly a spiny dogfish with a slight mutation witch caused the egg tooth to not fall of

Posted at 7:03PM on Jul 24th 2006 by ERIK

15. Probably the horn used to break the egg sack during hatching.

Posted at 7:54PM on Jul 24th 2006 by Greg Story

16. i dont know if it really is real r not!!!! but if it is!!! then we have something great and awesome on ur hands!

Posted at 8:25PM on Jul 24th 2006 by Sharon

17. Okay, if all land creatures, including HUMANS, can be born with anomolies, birth defects, why can't sharks?

Posted at 9:12PM on Jul 24th 2006 by DaniBoy

18. I think it is very sad that this diver is not more careful about what he is pulling off the bottom of the
ocean. He has a responsibility to check his nets before things are allowed to die in them. He is an irresponsible person and should not be allowed to go anywhere near the ocean of the many wonderful and beautiful creatures that inhabit it. If it is fake, how sad he has nothing better to do than mutilate other species. One more strike against man and all the stupid things that we do.

Posted at 9:26PM on Jul 24th 2006 by Jackrobbin

19. The person who caught this should be ashamed. Divers have a responsibility to look at their nets before things die in them. This person should not be allowed near the ocean or the beautiful creatures that live there. And if he did mutilate this creature for the sake of this photo, then I feel sorry for him. Why, I must ask, must he rape the ocean of its living beauty. This shark would have better served its environment alive and swimming freely.

Posted at 9:28PM on Jul 24th 2006 by Jackrobbin

20. Too bad this Jackrobbin's comments was not posted at the top of this blog line!!

Posted at 12:23AM on Jul 25th 2006 by debbie matthews