If a shark had pockets...oh, wait, this one does
April 26, 2015 1:28 PM   Subscribe

Pocket shark caught: Rare shark with 2 big pockets netted off U.S. coast (pics) A pocket shark isn’t like a pocket knife, where it fits into your pocket, it is a rare shark that actually has pockets in its body, one under each fin. “Think ‘Jaws’ meets kangaroo,” posted by Michele in California (27 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
The natural world will continue to thoroughly astound us. We truly do not know what we don't know about the mesopelgagic zone in the world's oceans. It's a beautiful and amazing bit of creation.

But I'm haunted, because this specimen was found not

1) because we have a federal science program to discover the biodiversity of the United States, and not

2) because BOEM conducted a thorough Environmental Impact Study of the Gulf of Mexico environment, as the law provides.

This species was found because BP has shuttered a large part of the life in the Gulf of Mexico, and the United States is desperately trying to find out what is there before it dies off, and before the next deepwater oil blowout happens

So it goes.
posted by eustatic at 1:38 PM on April 26, 2015 [9 favorites]


But what has it got in its pocketses???
posted by Hairy Lobster at 1:49 PM on April 26, 2015 [12 favorites]


But what has it got in its pocketses???

Smaller sharks. And in their pockets? Even smaller sharks!

It is perfect fractal shark recursion! Like the ouroborus, only cuter. And more cartilaginous.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:14 PM on April 26, 2015 [9 favorites]


You don't have to tell me to "think Jaws". I already know it's a shark. You can just say "like a kangaroo".
posted by a car full of lions at 2:31 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


I just had a great movie idea:

“Think ‘Sharknado’ meets Crocodile Dundee,”

*waits for millions of dollars*
posted by Fizz at 2:43 PM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


This'd be a heck of an addition to the so "What do you carry in your pockets" meme. I'm trying to think what a shark might need on a daily basis or weekly - toothpicks perhaps? Ooo, ooo, a skeleton key for those pesky snacks that are locked up in those cages?
posted by dawg-proud at 3:07 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


You can put your weed in there.
posted by trunk muffins at 3:19 PM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


I can't stop imaging huge slimy hulk hogan arms coming out of each pocket and the shark bursting out of the water and landing a sick uppercut on, like, mothra probably
posted by Rinku at 3:32 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


Think ‘Jaws’ meets kangaroo

pic didn't live up to the hype tbh
posted by ryanrs at 3:45 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Maybe I'm missing something (although I did read all three links and skimmed the linked journal publication), but it sounds like this little guy was discovered because scientists just netted a whole bunch of fish, sorted them, froze them, and analyzed them. I get the importance of scientific study, but is it really worth that kind of potential ecosystem disruption? What about the very likely possibility of killing endangered specimens?

The journal article says that the pocket shark was dead by the time they sorted it, but that doesn't seem to rule out the possibility that this infant pocket shark died when he was rounded up with all the other fish.

Like I said, I might be misunderstanding or maybe this is just one of those necessary evils, but I'm pretty uncomfortable with the idea of just rounding up and freezing a bunch of aquatic wildlife for "science," and I'm usually very pro scientific study. I'd be interested to hear alternate perspectives on this, though.
posted by litera scripta manet at 3:45 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


Hot Sharkets!
in Tuna, Crab, Salmon and Unwary Swimmer flavors!
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:49 PM on April 26, 2015 [9 favorites]


I think this falls into the "necessary evil" category, litera. Collecting specimens is kind of how you do taxonomy. Remember that other people net a whole *lot* of fish every day; they just throw out what they can't use because they're not doing a study.
posted by uosuaq at 3:53 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


But they have no hands!

Litera, I don't know that there is an alternate perspective on specimen collection. The number of animals killed as specimens is miniscule and specimens are very valuable to science--indispensable, really. If it makes you feel better, they are often used: a couple years ago a team described 24 new skinks from the Caribbean, largely based on analysis of museum specimens, some over 100 years old. Also, you can't protect a rare species without describing it and you can't describe it without designating a type specimen.
posted by snofoam at 4:19 PM on April 26, 2015


A pocket shark isn’t like a pocket knife, where it fits into your pocket...The latest pocket shark captured is just a baby, scientists estimate it is only a few weeks old and it is about 5.5 inches long.

Actually, it sounds like this one is a pocket pocket shark.
posted by snofoam at 4:23 PM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


they have no hands!

How do they feel??
posted by moonmilk at 4:27 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


"Hey Pocket Shark, hold on to this for me."

*Pocket Shark sighs, stuffs yet another seashell into overflowing pockets*
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:30 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


I felt very skeptical about this "adorable" description, feeling pretty sure it was actually going to look like a goblin shark in cargo pants, but no! Actually not utterly terrifying.
posted by mythical anthropomorphic amphibian at 4:45 PM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


But they have no hands!

They must be descended from Tyrannosaurs!
posted by sneebler at 5:00 PM on April 26, 2015


How do they feel??

WONDERFUL!
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:52 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


But what has it got in its pocketses???

It's gonna pop some tags
Only got twenty dollars in it's pocket
It - It - It's hunting, looking for a come-up
This is fucking awesome
posted by Kabanos at 8:05 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


So now we have to frisk these guys to make sure they're not hiding any dangerous contraband? I sense a lot of cops applying to the Coast Guard.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:59 PM on April 26, 2015


If any shark deserves tsunderification...
posted by BungaDunga at 11:53 PM on April 26, 2015


a 'rare' shark - thank the Lord we managed to kill it!
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 1:10 AM on April 27, 2015


You may think this a coincidence, but my toddler just discovered both pockets AND sharks.

Strange things are afoot.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:24 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Maybe I'm missing something (although I did read all three links and skimmed the linked journal publication), but it sounds like this little guy was discovered because scientists just netted a whole bunch of fish, sorted them, froze them, and analyzed them. I get the importance of scientific study, but is it really worth that kind of potential ecosystem disruption? What about the very likely possibility of killing endangered specimens?

you are missing that the Pisces was in the Gulf in response to the BP disaster in 2010.

If you're all tying your knickers in knots over one fish in NOAA's freezer, don't worry-- BP killed a thousand times what this trawler got. Should we ignore the consequences of oil addiction?

The study was trying to determine BP's damages. And yes, we should be trying to evaluate and study what species we are killing with deepwater drilling, that is the entire point of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Science is far behind industry, historically and contemporaneously. It doesn't help that people are so dangerously incurious where the oil comes from.

Could scientists have found this creature using submersibles and ROVs, rather than netting it? sure, if we had a federally funded science program robust enough to do that.

Guess what? that is NOT a PRIORITY for the United States. But you can bet your butt Deepwater exploration and extraction, and all of the damage to the Gulf and the fish species in it, is a priority.
posted by eustatic at 9:30 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


anyway, apologies for being a bitter bill. Pisces in the Gulf, 2010

more pocket jokes, plz
posted by eustatic at 9:38 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


I would have said whale more than shark. The nose thing....

But I am not a scientist.

That said, you have to be careful about the cute animal label when this guy is popping up elsewhere in New Species news.

Me personally, I'd be more interested in a hammer head that fits in a goldfish bowl.
posted by BWA at 10:21 AM on April 27, 2015


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