Creature Feature – Zebra Shark
This week is the letter ‘Z’, and today’s featured creature is the Zebra Shark.
While zebra sharks are born dark brown with yellowish stripes, as they reach adulthood, they shed their stripes for small black dots against a tan body, closely resembling the leopard species!
Taxonomy
Scientific Name: Stegosoma tigrinum
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Orectolobiformes
Family: Stegostomatidea
Genus: Stegosoma
Zebra Shark Fact File
Size: Individuals can reach lengths of 3.5m and weigh up to 30kg
Distribution: Zebra sharks live in shallow coral reef habitats in tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region
Diet: These nocturnal hunters feed primarily on molluscs, crustaceans, small bony fishes, and even sea snakes!
Behaviour: Although usually solitary, zebra sharks do form loose aggregations of 20 to 50 sharks in shallow coastal areas during the breeding season. The species is oviparous, releasing egg cases into the environment
IUCN Status: Endangered. Like most sharks species, their biggest threat is human activities. They are heavily fished throughout their range except in Australia. They are also taken by inshore fisheries using bottom trawls, gillnets, etc.,
