Epaulette Shark

ocean creatures · super smart · Australia · tiny predators

Fancy shoulder marks. The epaulette shark gets its name from the large white-edged black spots behind each pectoral fin, which look just like the fancy shoulder patches that soldiers wear on their uniforms.

Slow and slender. This shark is a small species with a long, skinny body and special paddle-shaped fins that let it move slowly and carefully through shallow tropical waters near Australia and New Guinea.

Half tail, half shark. The epaulette shark's tail makes up more than half of its entire body length, giving it a unique shape compared to other sharks.

Spotted sandy color. Adult epaulette sharks are light brown on top with scattered darker spots and faint saddle-shaped markings that help them blend in with the sandy ocean floor.

Bottom-crawler brain. Unlike most sharks, the epaulette shark is perfectly adapted to crawl along the seafloor in shallow waters, making it a clever hunter in tight spaces.