MERMAID'S PURSE

I am always awe struck to how amazing different creatures come into existence. Like these sharks called dogfish we just saw from Italy's biggest Aquarium, Sea Life, found in Verona.

Same as full term human babies, it takes nine moths for these sharks to hatch. Into the sea, the mother dogfish lays her eggs and leaves the babies to take care of themselves.

Inside these natural incubator called "mermaid's purse" are the tiny baby shark which is about the size of a finger nail.

At Sea Life, each stage of the baby shark's development were put in different aquariums. I thought they were corals till I've read the descriptive labels. My regret is not to take note of the months corresponding each of these pictures that my husband took.

These tough leathery casing of the mermaid's purse protects the babies from predators. It could also hide the egg from seaweeds with it's camouflaging effect.
The darker the color of the casing means the young is less developed

Then here are the babies out of the mermaid's purse which are still blind on their first days.

Till they grow and become this big.