Shark with webbed feet

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?ar..._id=73210864950

is this real ?

it looks like claspers with webbed feet ... do any sharks have this ?

It appears that all evidence, apart from this photograph, have been "destroyed". Why would they throw it back into the sea (especially if it was already dead)?

Sounds suspicious to me.

hello

so sorry by advanced for my grammary, I'm french with unfortunately a not enough fluent english

- If I well understood your inquiry, you ask about the two appendix called "feet"

But, it's not feet

Congratulations, it's a male !!!

Shark's got two penis, part of fins, called "pterygopod" (it hope it's the same word in english)

- Otherwise I can go back on french fora ashamed

Searil,

I know that these Clasper are the male members of the shark and ray family.

However the thing that caught the attention of the article and myself is that the claspers rather than ending in a point appear to end in a webbed foot.

I would imagine it is a hoax .. but still interesting at the chance it could be real (evolution of fish coming out of the water and walking on land etc ! )

oups

it will be better for me to stay at questions like "what is it ?"

sorry

Elasmobranch claspers, when unfolded at the ends, can be pretty funny looking. Calling these funny-looking clasper tips "webbed feet" is bit of a stretch. There's a really sharp barb in the claspers of large skates, for example, but we don't refer to them as "toenails."

In any event, such a modification (if they are real and are used for locomtion) would be an example of convergence and an analogous structure, like the wings of a birds compared with the wings of bees. Different origins, similar function.

those are pretty big claspers... that's a well hung baby shark..

geez, hope we don't developed webbed feet on our *****...