My son’s favourite shark is the Epaulette Shark. It’s a walking shark. Rap your mind around that! A shark that can walk out of the water for about an hour traveling between pools of water in the coral reefs looking for food. It reminds me of that old Saturday Night Live skit of the land shark! (Boy, am I old?!) For you young whipper snippers, look it up on YouTube. Good thing this shark is less than a meter long, otherwise, we would be in trouble. Every time we go to the Vancouver Aquarium, he wants to see it. They have 2 ‘Epaulettes’, one large spot on each ‘shoulder’ like a shoulder crest on a military or police uniform. Check it out! I had been volunteering at the #VancouverAquarium for 2 years and never saw it as it likes to hide. The first time my son goes looking for it, it comes out of hiding and my son spots it before I did! I guess it is a kid-friendly shark. His mother even made an Epaulette Shark costume for Halloween. He looked so cute in it.
But now I have seen a cuter shark: the Pocket Shark. It is 15 centimetres long (or a foot long for old fogees like me) and looks like a miniature Sperm Whale with pockets. That is so cool! Scientists know virtually nothing about it since it was only recently discovered. Even so, only two specimens have been found but neither one was alive. However, one thing researchers do know is that it is known to live in the ocean abyss. They don’t even know what it uses its pockets for. Maybe the shark keeps its keys there. I would love to be able to see it alive. Maybe #JamesCameron would lend a fellow Canadian his sub?? Hint, hint!
I really wanted to show you a picture of the newly discover species of pocket shark but couldn’t download a picture ,so go to the Live Science website for a look @ www.livescience.com/50611-deep-sea-pocket-shark-photos.html ( Just click on the picture above for a short cut to the web sight ) and let me know if you think it is as cute as I think it is.