According to Business Insider article a report published today in the Journal of Fish Biology documents the first known discovery of a two-headed bull shark fetus (Carcharhinus leucas). The two-headed fetus was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in 2011, off the Florida coast. The shark fetus, along with multiple other live fetuses, was removed live from its mother by a fisherman. However, it died soon after being removed. According to the report, the fetus was a single shark with two-heads as opposed to being “conjoined twins.” It is the first known recorded case of a bull shark with two heads.

For more information, including photos of the shark fetus, check out the story at Business Insider.

You can also view the abstract at the Journal of Fish Biology.

WARNING: Video contains profanity (and also was shot vertically, which some may find more offensive than the profanity)

YouTube user Bryan Plummer‘s video of a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) getting its head caught in a shark cage has gone viral and was all over the U.S. national news this morning. The video was shot by Plummer on March 21 and documents a white shark swimming into a shark cage, which appears to have at least two divers in it. Unfortunately, the shark’s head breached the “viewing port” in close proximity to one of the cage divers. Fortunately, no divers were harmed in the incident and the shark managed to free itself.

White sharks lack the ability to swim backwards, so the thrashing seen in the video is not uncommon when a shark gets entangled or caught as was the case in the situation.

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) eco-tourism industry in Oslob, Cebu has been facing criticism from some conservationists who say that the feeding of the sharks by locals is resulting in unnatural behavior for the world’s largest fish. Critics argue that feeding the whale sharks could make the animals dependent on humans for food and have a negative effect on the sharks ability to find food on their own.

Researchers have expressed similar concerns in the past and have noted that the feeding of the sharks could affect natural migration patterns and make the whale shark more susceptible to poaching and boat-related injuries.

Proponents of Oslob’s whale shark eco-tourism industry say that the sharks are not being harmed, and the industry helps to support the community. Another often-cited benefit of shark-related eco-tourism is that it helps raise awareness about sharks, which can be beneficial to conservation efforts.

CNN Legal Briefs reports that a man who made headlines in January for “wrestling” a shark at an Australian beach has been fired from his job due to the incident occurring while he was on sick leave.

Paul Marshallsea was filmed guiding a shark away from a shallow water where children were swimming. The video went viral and was picked up by international news media organizations. Unfortunately, for Marshallsea, his employer used the video as evidence to fire him, since he had been away from work on sick leave. According to Marshallsea, he was on holiday on his doctor’s orders as treatment for work-related stress, and he feels he was unjustly terminated.

According to the UK’s Mirror Marshallsea’s wife was also on sick leave for work-related stress when they traveled to Australia for a 2-month vacation. Upon returning home to the UK, both were notified by their employer that they had been dismissed from their jobs.

YouTube user APDharley1 posted the video above of a fisherman landing a juvenile great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) near Cape Agulhas, South Africa. According to the video description, the shark measured 170cm in length. The shark remains on the beach for about two minutes after having the hook removed, while measurements and photographs are taken. To the fisherman’s credit, he does make the effort to see that the shark is released back into the ocean.

White sharks are protected species in South Africa. Last month marked the first time in the history of South Africa’s courts that an individual was convicted of violating the protection legislation of the great white shark, when fisherman Leon Bekker was found guilty of having “caught, landed, and disturbed” the protected species.

The video description notes that the fisherman thought the shark was a mako.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) voted yesterday to include five shark species to Appendix II. The species include:

• oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus)
• great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran)
• scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini)
• smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena)
• porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus)

The inclusion of these species in the CITES Appendix II now requires that the sharks “will have to be traded with CITES permits and evidence will have to be provided that they are harvested sustainably and legally.”

In addition to the sharks species, the inclusion of manta ray species and a species of sawfish into Appendix II was also approved yesterday. These inclusion are considered to be a major milestone for CITES involvement in the marine environment.

CITES is an international agreement between governments formed to regulate the international trade of wild animals and plants to protect their survival. For more information, visit the CITES website.

OceanicWorld’s YouTube channel recently posted a video (seen above) featuring reactions from CITES delegates following the adoption of all 5 proposed shark species.

WPTV.com reports that fishermen were taking advantage of the annual mass shark migrations off the Florida coast by catching sharks at Midtown Beach. While the beaches were closed to swimming, police and lifeguards said that legally there was nothing to prevent fishermen from reeling sharks into the shore.

According to the report, two blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) were caught on Friday (03/08/2013) at Midtown Beach. The fishermen swabbed the sharks mouths to provide samples for researchers, who are studying the bacteria present in the mouths of sharks in hopes of improving treatment of wounds resulting from shark bites. Based on the video footage, it appears the fishermen were releasing the sharks after taking the samples.

You can check out the full story at WPTV.com.

WPTV5 reports that area beaches in Palm Beach, Florida have been closed to swimming due to large numbers of spinner sharks (Carcharhinus brevipinna) and blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) migrating through the area as they head north. Breaching spinner sharks could be seen from the shore, while helicopter footage from WPTV5 gives some perspective on the number and density of sharks in the area.

Spinner and blacktip sharks are not known to hunt large prey, and humans are not a natural food source of the species (or any other shark species, typically). However, the large number of sharks close to the shore does present a significant increase in the risk of shark bites to beach goers, and swimmers in the area are urged to observe the warnings and beach closures for safety reasons.

Blacktip sharks have been identified as being involved in 20% of Florida’s “unprovoked shark attacks” from 1920-2012, while spinner sharks were associated with %16, according to the International Shark Attack File.