Shark with webbed feet found

[Archaic]

http://stromdotcom.blogspot.com/2007/07/shark-with-webbed-feet.html

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.

When contacted, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Muka Head marine research station head Prof Dr Zulfigar Yasin said this is the first time he had heard of fish with legs found in the Malaysian waters.

“There is a possibility that the fish could have swum from other waters into Malaysian waters.

“As far as I am concerned, fish species with legs or bony fins can only be discovered in the waters of North Sulawesi in Indonesia or South Africa,” he said.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

The comments on that thread are hilarious. They can take something as simple as a mutated shark and twist it into a flamewar over evolution vs creation.

 

[the gadfly]

“As far as I am concerned, fish species with legs or bony fins can only be discovered in the waters of North Sulawesi in Indonesia or South Africa,” he said."

That would be a coelacanth. A fossil fish from before the age of dinosaurs.

Somehow, I didn't think Indonesia was that very far from Malaysia. Just a few tens of miles of ocean, right?

If anything, that specimen was an example of industrial pollution from both Indonesia AND Malaysia.

 

[Water Pokémon Master]

Creepy and disgusting, yet interesting. Does it not have a tail / fin?

 

[the gadfly]

Of course it does. You can clearly see its body extending beyond its adipose fins/legs.

 

[Water Pokémon Master]

Ohhh, now I see it. I wasn't focusing right or something. The legs are just hanging off of it randomly. That is just so weird, considering that would probably be the place a shark with legs would have legs.

 

[Zeta]

Oh lord. This will be a Scifi Channel movie of the week within a month. "Walking Shark! A Scifi Channel original movie."

 

[Archaic]

For the record, it's "webbed feet" are most likely nothing of the sort. Unless the shark was evolving legs from its penis (which is what you'd normally find there on such a shark), it's likely some sort of random mutation in its reproductive system, or perhaps even the result of an injury which split it in two. Doubtful that it would be caused by pollution though.

 

[Luna Tiger]

First off, they haven't identifed the shark species (or even claimed it was a new one) nor the gender. With my first thought being, "Holy shit, it has chicken feet!", my second was, if this is a male, this may be the first know case of a genetically mutated shark, much like two-headed reptiles or six-legged bovine. Mutated claspers, whut. It probably hurts to get any. *pays to be in a shark-related fandom*

And agreed. This ain't pollution. That was the theory of the horrifyingly mutated frogs somewhere in the US marshes, and all it turned out to be was the cycle of a cyst-causing parasite.

 

[Barb]

Oh lord. This will be a Scifi Channel movie of the week within a month. "Walking Shark! A Scifi Channel original movie."

Hey, it'll probably be better than "Frankenfish" or "Supergator."