Rare shark birth caught on camera

For the first time, researchers have captured photographs of a shark actually giving birth to a live pup, clearing up quite a bit of the mystery surrounding such an event.

As there are and have been sharks swimming around for eons it's clear that they reproduce, but how various species go about it has in many cases remained an enigma. For what is thought to be the first time, researchers have captured a photograph of an oceanic shark actually giving birth to a live pup.

The subject in the picture is a thresher shark, and the image was taken in 2013 at a grouping of underwater mountains near the Philippines. It was recently published in the journal Coral Reefs.

Dr. Simon Oliver, the head of the team that was studying the area, said that they were going about their regular explorations when the team's photographer took the photo. Oliver was unaware of the prized find until the film was developed and presented to him at a later time.

The area is known to be a cleaning station where sharks go to have parasites nibbled off of them by smaller fish. Now, Oliver believes that it could also serve as an important birthing area, given both the known instance and the concentration of pregnant sharks that inhabit the waters.

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