By Staff Writer (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Apr 26, 2015 03:07 PM EDT

A rare pocket shark resurfaced after the species was last seen 36 years ago.

NBC News reported that the tiny shark, which belongs to the Mollisquama species, only measured around 5.5 inches long. It was male and only a few weeks old. The fish featured two pockets beside its front fins, although their purpose is not identified. It also had unique belly patches that are not present in most sharks. The shark may appear like a small sperm whale and has a strong set of teeth.

The very first of its kind was discovered 36 years ago off the coast of Peru. It has not been spotted again until now. It was a female adult and measured about 17 inches long and has since stayed at a Russian museum. Experts believed that adult females grow bigger than their male counterparts.

Based on a new study published in the zoological journal Zootaxa, the pocket shark was found together with a group of fish gathered in a 2010 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The fish were collected 190 miles off the coast of Louisiana while the NOAA was studying sperm whale feeding.

Mark Grace, NOAA fisheries biologist, went through several bags of fish for three years to identify over 3,500 creatures. She found the rare fish when the bag containing it was thawed in October 2013.

Grace said in a Newsweek report, "I was down to the last gallon bag. I was in the lab by myself and I just couldn't believe it. I had never seen anything like it or read about one."

Grace added, "I wasn't really sure what it was. That pocket over on the pectoral fin, I had never seen anything like that on a shark. Discovering him has us thinking about where mom and dad may be, and how they got to the Gulf. The only other known specimen was found very far away, off Peru, 36 years ago."

Grace brought the fish to Tulane University to have it identified.

Michael Doosey, co-author of the study, was surprised that Grace could not identify the animal after having gone through thousands of fish in the past three decades. Tulane requested for a shark expert to help.

Doosey said, "It's cute. It almost looks like a little whale."

Based on the same report by NBC News, as soon as the pocket shark was identified, it was transferred to New York and France to undergo advanced examinations that did not require puncturing the specimen. The pocket shark will be shipped at the Smithsonian next before returning to Louisiana.

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