Carpet, or Wobbegong, are sharks that belong to the class of cartilaginous fish. The names of this unit are associated with one of the many languages used by Australian aborigines and a unique camouflage coloration.
Instructions
Step 1
Representatives of carpet sharks live in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, preferring shallow waters of the temperate and tropical zones. The length of these bottom marine predators is usually about 1.25 meters. But there are cases when spotted wobbegongs and representatives of Orectolobus halei managed to grow up to 3 meters.
Step 2
Currently, wobbegongs are an object of fishing. In Australia and a number of Asian countries, wobbegong meat is used for food, and the demand for variegated shark skin does not decrease. Increasingly, captive carpet sharks can be seen among the inhabitants of the North American, European and Australian aquariums.
Step 3
They are highly flexible - the shark can easily reach the hand that holds their tail. The teeth of wobbegongs, although small, are quite sharp, and after a bite they often remain in the human body. According to experts, shark teeth are then extremely problematic to extract. It is widely believed that wobbegongs do not see well, therefore they are able to quickly grab onto almost any object that appears next to them.
Step 4
Sharks have an excellent camouflage color - bizarre symmetrical spots that visually resemble elements of carpet ornament. They owe their name to this. Algae-like skin outgrowths on the snout enhance the camouflage in these predatory fish found in the western Pacific Ocean. They are used by fish as tactile receptors. Interestingly, representatives of one of the branches of the Australian aborigines dubbed carpet sharks "shaggy beard", which sounds like wobbegongs, and after a while this became the basis for another official name.
Step 5
The diet of representatives of this family of bottom sharks, according to researchers, usually consists of a menu of fish, lobsters, crabs, octopuses and the like. Interestingly, the developed pectoral and pelvic fins give wobbegongs a unique opportunity - fish can crawl along the bottom, and sometimes even move on land, overcoming short distances in order to get from one tidal basin to another.
