The fisherman threw the rare double-headed shark back into the water after finding it off the Palghar coast
© Nitin Patil/Umesh PalekarThe fisherman threw the rare double-headed shark back into the water after finding it off the Palghar coast
A fisherman found a two-headed baby shark off the Palghar coast. As per scientists, such double-headed sharks were quite rare in the wild.

Arare two-headed baby shark was found by a fisherman in Palghar.

As per a report in The Hindustan Times, a fisherman from Satpati village in Palghar discovered the six-inch shark with two heads in his by-catch on Friday.

The report said fisherman Nitin Patil took photos and videos of the baby shark as he was confused by the anomaly.

"We do not eat such small fish, especially sharks, so I thought it was strange but decided to throw it anyway," Patil was quoted as saying by the report.

He threw the shark back into the water after clicking photos.

Another fisherman told HT that they have never seen anything like the two-headed baby shark before. The fishermen said they shared the images of the baby shark with researchers from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research - Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CMFRI), Mumbai.

While confirming to HT the discovery as a very rare documentation, an ICAR-CMFRI scientist told the daily, "Our records show that double-headed sharks are very rarely reported along the Indian coast. This species appears to be the embryo of the spadenose shark (Scoliodon laticaudus) from the Carcharhinidae family or a sharpnose shark (Rhizoprionodon species). Both are viviparous [birthing live young which have developed inside the body of the parent], and are common in Maharashtra waters."

The scientist said the heads of the baby shark were joined behind the gills and such two-headed sharks were quite rare in the wild.

A fisherman had discovered a two-headed blue shark embryo in the Indian Ocean in 2018, as per National Geographic.

A 2011 study described conjoined twins discovered in blue sharks caught in the Gulf of California and northwestern Mexico.