Video reveals baby steps of newly hatched 'walking' sharks
By Joshua A. Krisch published 3 days ago
This unique strategy may help the sharks survive strandings in tide pools.
I'm walkin' here! An epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. (Image credit: Nigel Marsh/Getty Images)
Some sharks can "walk," and researchers recently discovered how one of these unusual shark species practice taking baby steps. They begin when they're newly hatched, and a hatchling's walk is no different from that of older juveniles.
When the tide near a coral reef goes out, a small species of carpet shark is often left behind. When stranded in shallow tide pools with dwindling oxygen levels and rising temperatures — or worse, beached on hot slabs of exposed reef — most aquatic species wouldn't stand a chance. But the epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) can hold its breath for hours and tolerate a range of temperatures. And in a pinch, it can walk.
"At low tide, when the reef is exposed, you can see them out there walking on the reef," said Marianne E. Porter, an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University who studies the mechanical structures and motion of sharks. She told Live Science that these hardy little sharks can walk on land and underwater, flopping across substrate on four paddle-shaped fins for more than 90 feet (27 meters) until they find a suitable nook where they can wait out the tide.
It's one of nature's most distinctive survival strategies, but few studies have examined the physics behind epaulette shark locomotion and gait. Now, a new study in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology is the first to describe the mechanics of how newly hatched epaulette sharks walk.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/epaulette-sharks-walking-baby-steps