An aquarium in Japan's southern prefecture of Okinawa is displaying two baby fish of a rare species found in tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
The Bowmouth guitarfish is a species of ray but the rear half of the fish looks like a shark. The International Union for Conservation of Nature categorizes the fish as Critically Endangered in its Red List of Threatened Species.
The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium says the fish were born in its facility on October 6. The mother fish was caught in September off the coast of Yomitan Village.
The aquarium staff are feeding the young fish with shrimp. They are now over 40 centimeters long. Adults of this species can reach a length of more than two meters.
Visitors enjoyed watching the fish with their distinctive black-and-white patterns. A woman who came with her two sons said she thought at first that they were a kind of shark.
Aquarium staffer Kino Masakatsu says this is a rare opportunity for people to see young Bowmouth guitarfish.