The zebra shark is a large, distinctive shark that lives in shallow coral reef habitats in tropical waters where they can wriggle into narrow crevices and caves in search of food. Its appearance, which changes as the shark reaches maturity, has caused confusion among divers who often mistake it for the leopard shark.
It is found in coastal waters throughout the tropical Indo-West Pacific. In Australia it is recorded from the western coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north and south to the central coast of New South Wales.
Zebra shark, the common name of these slow-swimming, non-aggressive, bottom-dwelling sharks, is derived from their juvenile coloration: narrow bars reminiscent of a zebra's stripes. When the sharks grow into adults, the bars become spots. Their common name in Australia is leopard shark.
Although sharks have a reputation as aggressive predators, zebra sharks tend to take it easy most of the day. Even when hunting, the Zebra shark spends most of its time near the ocean floor and displays sluggish, easygoing behavior. A Zebra shark is not likely to harm humans in the wild.
Zebra sharks are docile, generally slow-moving and are not dangerous to humans. Only one provoked attack has every been recorded, they have however bitten divers who pull their tails and try to ride them.
Docile and slow-moving, zebra sharks are not dangerous to humans and can be easily approached underwater. However, they have bitten divers who pull on their tails or attempt to ride them. As of 2008 there is one record of an unprovoked attack in the International Shark Attack File, though no injuries resulted.
With the exception of some other large shark species, few predators could take on an adult zebra shark. As with other sharks, humans are the biggest threat to zebra sharks. Their meat is sold fresh and salt-dried and is used in fishmeal.
The leopard shark is the first on our list of least dangerous shark species to be utterly harmless to humans. There has not been a single report of a human being bitten by a leopard shark. They live primarily in shallow waters, are rarely found more than twenty feet below the surface, and feed on crabs and small fish.
There have only been 16 recorded cases of hammerheads biting humans, and not one of those cases resulted in a fatality. Despite the size of certain species, hammerheads pose no threat to humans.
Mountain Bunny. The Shark Bunny is an Ocean Bunny that comes in 2 variants. It is available for purchase from McFluffin's Market for 350. . It can be obtained from level 6 and up.
A Rare and Magnificent Sea Creature
Seeing a Zebra shark is rare as they are nocturnal and are now labeled as endangered. During the day they are often found lazily resting on the ocean reef floor.
It belongs to family of dinosaurs known as carcharodontosaurs, best known for their shark-like teeth. Named Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis, it was at least 22 feet (seven meters) long and weighed more than a ton (1,000 kilograms) and would have roamed Central Asia about 90 million years ago.
The largest great white recognized by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is one caught by Alf Dean in south Australian waters in 1959, weighing 1,208 kg (2,663 lb).
The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is found in tropical and warmer temperate waters of all the world's oceans. Its Australian distribution includes all northern Australia, extending south to Perth in the west and Bass Strait in the east.
Six out of these seven species covered by the Sharks MOU occur in Australian waters - the white shark, whale shark, basking shark, porbeagle, shortfin mako and longfin mako.
The elusive Ganges shark is a freshwater riverine species thought to be endemic to India. Originally only known from three museum specimens collected in the 19th century, this rare creature is often confused with bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) – a marine species known to enter rivers and estuaries.
The most dangerous of all sharks is the great white. It has a track record of 333 human attacks with 52 resulting in death.
Lemon sharks get their name for being overtly jealous when scuba divers do not give them sufficient attention – no, not really, but it would have been a good story. The first dive with the lemon sharks felt somewhat like going on a blind date in a foreign country.
Just like we check under our beds for monsters, sharks check for dolphins before nodding off. That's right, the toughest kids on the undersea block swim in fear of dolphins.
Adult zebra sharks are non-aggressive, and have few predators other than larger shark species that may be lucky enough to catch one in its jaws. As with other sharks, the largest threat to zebra sharks is humans.
Zebra sharks don't have to swim to breathe. They rest on the reef floor with their mouths open and throat muscles pumping water across their gills.
The juveniles' stripes are what give this species its common name of zebra shark. Additionally the adults have longitudinal ridges along the body, which are absent in juveniles (Compagno, 2001). The dentition is similar in both jaws, with 28-33 teeth in the upper jaw and 22-32 in the lower.