Sharks caught walking on land against the laws of nature: "This is the end of us"

Humpback sharks found in Australia's Great Barrier Reef have been documented as being able to walk on land with the help of their fins - and survive for up to two hours without oxygen.

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02/09/2022

Friday, 02 September 2022, 00:05

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Island of the Walking Sharks/discovery

A groundbreaking new study found walking sharks - that break the rules of nature.

This unique ability allows them to hunt in places that other sharks cannot hunt - such as the bathers on the beach.

Don't panic, they are a little less in our section.

At nightfall on May 3, in a remote area off the coast of Papua New Guinea, scientists encountered something amazing: a walking shark.

Using its fins to drag itself along the land, the tiny, black-spotted shark was seen gliding across the tidal pool that barely contained enough water to surround its belly - moving like a sea lion.

It is actually a thresher shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) which is unique among shark species in its ability to move on land.

Forrest Galante, a conservationist and biologist, recently shared rare footage of this unusual species in a new special that aired on the Discovery Channel in honor of Shark Week.

"This is the first time in history that one of the papua species of the epaulettes has been documented walking," Galante said in the program, "It's so amazing."

Scientists believe that thresher sharks, a species found off the southern coast of New Guinea and the northern coast of Australia, developed the ability to walk because it helps them search for food in environments where other sharks cannot survive.

The shoulder shark - soon at the bathing beaches (Photo: ShutterStock, Vladimir Wrangel)

"These developments are possible when they allow the species to survive better and provide an environment where they are safe and can obtain food," said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Shark Research Program at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.

Thrush sharks, which reach only one meter in length, swim into shallow coral reefs to hunt crabs and other invertebrates, their preferred food.

When the tide goes out, they're very happy to hang out in the shallow pools and gobble up these creatures, "but once they're done, they're trapped," Naylor, who was not involved in the TV special, told Live Science.

"What the women have learned to do is to climb the reef and jump themselves to the next tide pool."

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The shoulder sharks (photo: ShutterStock, slowmotiongli)

Humpback sharks can drag themselves 30 meters or more across dry land and fin walking is not the only adaptation that allows them to do this.

This species can survive in low-oxygen conditions and spend an hour or more on land with just one breath, Live Science previously reported.

This ability also helps capercaillies thrive in the low-oxygen waters of tidal pools.

Humpback sharks likely evolved the ability to walk in the last 9 million years, scientists reported in a 2020 study published in the journal Marine & Freshwater Research.

That's incredibly fast for sharks.

To put that in perspective, hammerhead sharks, one of the youngest groups of sharks, evolved about 45 million years ago, according to the Natural History Museum in London.

"Brush sharks can create new species at an incredibly rapid rate," said Naylor, "Because of the unique mobility of sharks, small populations often become isolated. A river or other geographic barrier may change enough to cut off a small group of sharks from the main population. Over time, populations These can be genetically different, because their genes undergo random mutation and adapt separately from other gene pools."

One big question that remains about these sharks is how a species with such little genetic diversity within populations can produce individuals that are so different in appearance.

The humpback shark's unique spotting patterns vary so much that no two creatures look exactly alike.

Naylor and other scientists suspect that bats can actually change their color patterns at will, "We haven't proven it, but we think it happens," Naylor concluded.

A statement released by Florida Atlantic University said that thresher sharks learned to "walk" as a result of "challenging environmental conditions."

They noted that their habitat - the Great Barrier Reef of South Australia - can sometimes be completely isolated by the outgoing tide.

Therefore, the sharks use their paddle-shaped fins to "maneuver into small reef crevices and avoid aerial and aquatic predators."

Scientists are now investigating how these walking abilities change in the early development of a thresher shark.

Other walking shark species can be found in Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

The study's senior author, Dr. Marian E. Porter, said: "Studying thresher shark movement allows us to understand the ability of this species - and perhaps related species - to move in and out of challenging conditions in their habitats."

Dr. Porter is now calling for further investigation of climate change and its impact on basking sharks' breeding conditions in the future. The sharks may hold the key for scientists to know more about rapid evolution.

Although the idea of ​​walking sharks may give you nightmares, basking sharks do not pose a threat to our Adam The creatures feed on small fish, crustaceans and worms - and there was no evidence that they were dangerous to humans.

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