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SCIENTISTS spotted a rare super-healing shark that was able to recover from traumatic injury.
The creature was first spotted with a torn dorsal fin in 2022 but has since been found healed in a regrowing event that’s only been observed twice.
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A tag had been fitted to the shark’s dorsal fin in June 2022.
It was designed to track the shark’s migration.
Some weeks later, the tag was forcibly removed by an unknown person, according to Live Science.
It left that animal with a devastating rip in its dorsal fin.
Marine researchers were informed and they observed the shark and its healing fin that now looks almost as good as new in 2023 images.
A study about the shark has been published this month in the Journal of Marine Sciences.
The researchers wrote: “This study demonstrates partial fin regeneration of a silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis) almost one year after a traumatic injury that resulted in a 20.8% loss of the first dorsal fin.
“The shark was photographed 332 days after the recorded injury with a newly shaped dorsal fin that had healed to 87% of the original size.”
This case is so rare that only one other record of dorsal fin regeneration like it has been recorded in a whale shark.
It’s the first evidence of its kind that dorsal fins can grow back on silky sharks.
As for who cut the shark’s fin in the first place, the researchers have a few theories.
Study author Chelsea Black told Live Science: “It’s more likely that the shark was caught by a fisherman and they either cut out the tag to try and sell it, or they just didn’t want scientists to study them.
“Sharks can be seen as a nuisance to some people, so you can imagine there is a group of people who wouldn’t want us to increase conservation measures.”
The researchers hope to learn more about how sharks regenerate fins.
One theory is that the fin is mostly scar tissue but experts can’t be sure because a regenerated fin has never been dissected.
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