Nature
PUBLISHED
It’s not unusual for dead marine organisms to wash up along shores, but a particularly bizarre specimen has graced us with its presence recently- a two-headed dolphin calf.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.According to Dogan news, the dead dolphin, which was discovered by a gym teacher on vacation, washed up onto a beach in Dikili, Turkey, from the Aegean Sea last week. It is reported that marine biologists at Akdeniz University will examine the carcass to find out more.
According to the Daily Mail, the calf was believed to be around one-year-old and measured 3.2 ft (1 meter) in length. Early reports stated that the eyes were not fully opened on one of the heads and neither was one of the blow holes.
The dolphin had a rare condition known as polycephaly. This two-headedness is a severe example of conjoined twins which results from the incomplete splitting of a fertilized egg. The result is a shared body with separate heads. Polycephaly has been observed in numerous animals such as snakes, sheep, dogs, fish and people.
[Via Houston Chronicle and Daily Mail]
