Page 40 - Shark

Continued from previous page

Secret agent
Spies work undercover
on secret missions.
Some kinds of shark are
secretive too, and hide
from predators by using
camouflage.

Oriental
wObbegOng
This shark lives along
the coasts of Japan, China,
Vietnam, the Philippines,
and Korea in the western
Pacific. It grows to just
over 3 ft (1m) in length.
Wobbegongs are not
normally aggressive,
Japanese wobbegong but people have
been bitten when
Lobe they have stepped on a wobbegong by
mistake, because they are difficult to
see. Fishermen have also been bitten
Barbel by wobbegongs caught in their nets.
Undercover sharks

Sharks living on the seabed like to
hide. The colors and patterns on their
skins help these sharks, such as wobbe­
gong, swell, and angel sharks, to be
camouflaged, or to blend in with
their surroundings. They have
blotches, spots, or stripes that
make them difficult to see on
sand, among rocks, seaweeds,
or corals on the seabed.
Wobbegongs have elaborate
disguises with blotchy skins and
lobes on their heads that look like
bits of seaweed. Other sharks, like swell
sharks, hide in crevices, while angel
sharks cover themselves with sand. Why nOw yOu See me,
hide if you are a shark with sharp teeth? nOw yOu dOn’t
These undercover sharks often lie It is difficult to
see angel sharks
in wait for prey, like fish and crabs, (pp. 36–37) lying
to move near, then snap them on the seabed,
up. Also, hiding helps small because they are
sharks avoid being eaten flattened and their
by larger predators. mottled skin looks like
sand (top left). To
complete their superb
disguise, angel
sharks shuffle their
pectoral fins to
bury themselves
in the sand (center
left). When hiding
under a layer of sand,
their eyes poke above
the surface (bottom
left) keeping watch
for their prey like fish
to swim by. When a
fish comes near, the
angel shark lunges
forward, snapping its
auStralian Shark with a beard jaws shut around it.
The tasseled wobbegong’s beard has If divers approach, they
many branched lobes around its may leave their hiding
mouth, which its prey, such as fish place and swim off.
and shrimp, may mistake for Fishermen catch angel
seaweed and end up being eaten. sharks in nets towed
across the seabed.