A Shark With feet? Can this be real?

I ran across this news article about a shark with webbed feet.

Here is the link:
www.underwatertimes.com...

(Mar 14, 2007 14:28 EST) Has anyone ever seen a baby shark with webbed feet? A worker of the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board (LKIM) in Batu Maung, Penang, made this unusual find when she was given the 1.7kg fish by a fisherman at the jetty recently.

Mary Looi, 48, said she only realised the shark was different when she wanted to cook tomyam fish for lunch for her family.

“It was only when I was about to cut the shark the day after I received it that I found two webbed feet sticking out from the lower part of the body.

Here are some pics




My instincts tell me has got to be fake...but then again there is always the possibility that it could be true. Has anyone seen this before?

[edit on 6-9-2007 by Sparky63]

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[edit on 6/9/2007 by Mirthful Me]

Thats a male shark.
Those are reproductive organs called "claspers"
They are kind of paired with the pelvic fins, so there are two.

www.elasmo-research.org...enises.htm

Looks like a genetic mutation. Grew an extra pair of fins. THe reason they look like feet are because the cartelage which holds the shape of the fin is really the same anatomy that makes up the bones in the hand of a human. Since we all evolved from common sources most animals skeletons have easily identified structures. a pectoral fin on a shark, fish, flipper of a seal, and the hand of a terrestrial human all have the same basic bones/cartelage. Carpal and matacarpal bones. So the freak mutation could easily look like a hand or feet. there isn't much difference across the board in the animal kingdom between fins and feet so they would look very similar.

Pretty cool looking. I wouldn't eat the fish either though. superstition or not.

I was going to go with mail shark penis' too, but those are usually more pike like (not the fish) and have barbs at the end. maybe mutated sex organs that resemble hands. I like my mutated extra fin genetic misshap theory.

Anytime someone claims to have had something in their hands, gets a "photo" and then gets rid of the evidence before a scientist can examine it -- and tells the story to the papers -- is hiding something.

If she works with fish, she should know they're parts of the fish's natural biology (if they're claspers).

Not only that, I went to the site you got the article from, and looked at their source, supposedly The Star in Malaysia. After searching through their archives for the past year, including the words "shark," "webbed feet" and the woman's name, there was no record of such a story.

The chances of this being anything other than a hoax are about nil.

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Not only that, I went to the site you got the article from, and looked at their source, supposedly The Star in Malaysia. After searching through their archives for the past year, including the words "shark," "webbed feet" and the woman's name, there was no record of such a story.

Here's the link:


Shark with webbed feet

The Star isn't a tabloid, so it could be true. If it was The Malay Mail I would've dismissed it. Funny I didn't see this in the papers that Wednesday. I'll go look through the old newspaper stack again.

Edit: March issue? I gotta get glasses. I've already recycled the past months papers...

But The Star is a reputable source, I can vouch for that. English paper with the highest circulation in the country. The second is The New Straits Times. I'll see if I can find a corresponding article from there.

[edit on 6-9-2007 by Beachcoma]

I don't think they are claspers now that i think about it bacause male sharks can retract their claspers they go into their body out of the way most of the time. like snakes. Snakes have almost the exact same thing except they stow their penis' in their ventral opening) the same one as their butts. Sharks are the same. these mutated fins are connected to the outside of the body right where the node would be for the normal fins to grow out. A clasper would leading to a slit where they can be retracted. like snakes. ALso although one website I just checked out say that the claspers can flare out like that. I've never heard about that. I thought they were just simply barbed so that once in they stay in.

I say mutation-extra malformed fins.

ALthough another website says that the population in malaysia see these sharks all the time. Maybe a stablized mutation in the local shark population. happens all the time in the plant kingdom. could be possible.

I searched the NST archives. Didn't turn up any result, but that's not surprising. NST is more concerned with political issues.

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
ALthough another website says that the population in malaysia see these sharks all the time.

Could you supply the link for this website? I live in Malaysia and this is the first I'm hearing of it. I'll go talk to some of my diver friends, see if they know anything about this.

well, embarassingly I've never taken the time to learn how to link stuff on ATS.

The link was a forum that popped up about halfway down the first google page when I searched under "male shark sex organs"

It was a link called:
www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=73210864950

about 2/3rds down the first page of posts there is some dude named omsigit from makasar, indonesia. He claims he's sulawesi and that they see these sharks all the time. Not sure if he's believable though.

I say freak mutation of rear fins. nothing more exciting than that though

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
well, embarassingly I've never taken the time to learn how to link stuff on ATS.

It's easy. Use the following template:

[url=http://www.abovetopsecret.com]ATS Home[/url]

Just change the relevant bits. The above will come out looking like this:

ATS Home

Hope it helps

Spacedoubt;

I believe you are correct.
I googled "Shark Claspers" and found a link that seems to describe why these particular claspers look different from those usually seen.

cephalopodcast.com...

So basically, this shark died with an erection.

What a way to go.....

[edit on 6-9-2007 by Sparky63]

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Thats a male shark.
Those are reproductive organs called "claspers"
They are kind of paired with the pelvic fins, so there are two.

www.elasmo-research.org...enises.htm

My thoughts exactly.

The webbing at the end might be a genetic mutation at the most.

I mean, it's just a stupid thought that an underwater creature could have adapted to its aquatic environment by growing two (and not even four) legs which are clearly limp and not strong enough to support such a big body.

Uh yeah, not any more surprising than a lamb growing legs out of its chest and sides.

Ok I just talked to my maid (she's Indonesian) and she said that there are quite a lot of these type of sharks swimming about the area between Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

So I guess it's a mutation, not a hard-on.

I googled for images of shark claspers, and I agree that's what they are. You can see claspers of another species of shark here:
jb004.k12.sd.us...

Looks a bit like the claspers on a frill shark. I wish we knew what kind of shark that is:
www.amonline.net.au...

Hey Check out this site:

cephalopodcast.com/blog/category/animals/fish/sharks/

There is a short acrticle about the shark in question. THey say it's a mutation and not sex organs.

I can't find a single picture of splayed out or webbed claspers for a shark. all are just the staight pointed clapsers.

The "webbed feet" at the ends of the claspers are a normal part of the anatomy called the "rhipidion". The word "rhipidion" means "fan".

rhipidion: The distal opening of the tube formed by the claspers when held together. Fan-shaped for dispersing sperm in a radiating spray during copulation.

I guess it is just a picture of a shark with an erection being felt up by an Asian woman.

Poor shark.

no because sharks have fins and swim