Photo Credit: Tulane University
Luminescent sharks have recently been discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
This shark, which is only about 5.5 inches long, has its very own pockets tucked behind its pectoral fins with glands that produce a bioluminescent fluid. Believe it or not, it also has light-producing organs called photophores all throughout its body. As a result, the sharks glow!
The pocket shark was discovered in 2010 and has just now been classified as a brand-new species. Up to this point, only two pocket sharks have been captured. Both were captured from separate oceans and were considered to be separate species as well.
The first species was found off the coast of Chile in 1979 and then no other of its kind was found until 2010. How can this be possible? There is no current data to explain why there was such a huge gap of time in between discoveries.
What is known, however, is that pocket sharks live well below the surface of the water. This just helps to prove that there is so much of the ocean that we still don’t know about. There are so many species that have still yet to ever be identified because of how deep they inhabit the water. Although only two of these types of sharks have been identified, it is pretty fascinating to think of how many glow in the dark sharks, with their own pockets, could be living in the ocean.
Hopefully, in time, more light will be shed on these rare creatures!
