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Wobbegong Shark

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  Animal class: Fish (Have vertebrae (a backbone or spine), have gills instead of lungs, are cold-blooded (their bodies cannot hold heat and must warm themselves by their surrounding like the sun), have fi ns to help them get around, most have scales, most do not have eyelids, have a swim bladder (helps them control how deep they go in the water), they have a 2-chamber heart, their ears are inside their bodies, lay eggs that will, but some females will carry their fertilized eggs and give live birth (only a few species do this), and their sizes range from a male Photocorynus spiniceps (a type of anglerfish) 0.2 in (6.1 mm) to the Whale shark at 42 ft (13 m)) (Examples: Goldfish, sharks, salmon, and Sword Fish. There are over 30,000 different species)
• Diet: Carnivore (They only eat meat) – Octopus, fish, smaller sharks, lobsters, and crab
• Lifespan: Unknown, but Marine biologists estimate around 20-30 years (more research is currently underway)
• Predators: Larger sharks, larger fish, and marine mammals like orcas
• Size: about 3- 6 ft (1-2 m)
• Species: There are about 12 species of Wobbegong sharks, but there are around 500 species of sharks
• Status: Least Concern
• Weight: About 154 lbs (70 kg)
• Where do they live?: These sharks swim in the western Pacific Ocean near Australia and Japan
• They are nocturnal (awake at night and sleeping during the day) and hunt at night.
• Sometimes called a “Carpet shark” because they can camouflage well on the bott om of the ocean floor, especially around reefs.
• Other sharks need to move to breathe, but the Wobbegong shark does not need to keep moving to breathe.
• They can be found in tide pools at low tide, and when the tide comes back in, they will swim back to sea.
• This shark will lay on the ocean floor and wait for prey to swim by. It will inhale the prey and then swallow it whole. They will even eat animals significantly larger than themselves. It will hold the animal in its mouth unti l it dies and then chews it.