Zebra Shark
Facts About the Zebra Shark
Unless you see a Zebra Shark when it is young, you will most likely wonder how it got that name, as it appears to be cream color with dark spots. An adult Zebra Shark has no stripes at all. Juvenile Zebra Sharks do have stripes, however, as they are dark brown or purple with yellow or white stripes. By the time the shark is a little over three feet long, the stripes have disappeared. Adults grow to be between five and six feet long.
This change from stripes to spots happens with almost all of the sharks in the family of carpet sharks. Scientists do not know the reason and they do not know for sure where young Zebra Sharks live. It is speculated that the coloring marks them as being a young or lower level shark so that larger sharks do not feel threatened enough by their presence to kill them.
Every summer and fall, the Zebra Shark starts to turn up in great numbers in the shallow coastal waters off Australia. This is believed to be for breeding but not a lot is known about this shark and its habits. It is known that the reproduction is by the laying of eggs, and that these eggs are large, approximately seven inches long, three inches wide and two inches thick. The eggs are covered with fibers that look like hair, which are thought to keep the eggs planted in the substrate.
The Zebra Shark in known in India as a Monkey-Mouth Shark. This name only makes sense when a Zebra Shark is viewed from underneath. In that position, they appear to have a small mouth, a blunt snout, and barbels that look remarkably like whiskers. Their mouth design is perfect for grasping their prey and then crushing their shells with their teeth. A Zebra Shark is known to eat shrimp, snails, crabs, bivalves and teleosts. They are just the right shape for entering crevices in coral reefs where these creatures hide.
The Zebra Shark has a long tail for a shark but most scientists believe it is movement of this tail that allows the shark to sit on the bottom of the ocean for long periods of time. This is where they spend most of the day, resting, as a Zebra Shark is nocturnal and does all of its hunting and eating at night.
Zebra Sharks are caught for their meat, which is sold fresh or dried. Its fins are sold to be used in the Chinese shark fin soup and other body parts are sold for cultural medicinal purposes. Several countries, including the United States, have passed laws that prohibit the cutting off of fins in their territories. Several species of sharks are being over-fished and endangered because of this practice.