Researchers captured an incredible photograph of the live birth of thresher shark. The image, which is printed in Journal Coral Reefs, is the first rare photograph of a shark live birth.

Attila Kaszo captured the image during a research dive in Philippines. Kaszo, along with University of Chester researcher Dr. Simon Oliver, embarked on a diving expedition off the Philippine's Malapascua Island in the Visayan Sea in April 2013. They observed pelagic thresher sharks’ habits at “cleaning stations.” Threshers assemble at cleaning stations to let smaller fish, like cleaner wrasse, to feed on dead tissue and parasites attached to their bodies.

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The mutualistic relationship between sharks and cleaner fish is well-documented, but the reproductive behaviors of pelagic threshers are not. Kaszo was surprised when he caught a live shark birth on camera accidentally.

Kaszo showed the image to the senior researchers of Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Dr. Simon Thorrold, a senior scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, and other experts were amazed when he described the entire background of the image.

Pelagic threshers are ovoviviparous. Their embryos develop inside eggs, however, the mother preserves the eggs instead of laying them and that results in live birth. Threshers normally give birth to a litter of two pups, which are born large (nearly half the size of the mother).

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) described the pelagic thresher as a vulnerable species in 2007.

Dr. Oliver said that it is the first record of any sea mammal giving birth. He expressed that it was certainly a thrilling moment of his career.

TagsRare Shark Birth, Malapascua Island, diving expedition, pelagic thresher sharks, sharks, live birth of shark, sea mammal, sea mammal giving birth, Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution, International Union for Conservation of Nature