Epaulette shark

Epaulette sharks eat small animals on the reef.

They eat worms, crabs, shrimp and little fish. They find food by smell.

Epaulette sharks hunt along the reef floor for worms, crabs, shrimp, tiny shellfish called amphipods, and small fish.

They are most active at dusk and at night, and especially at low tide. They find their prey by smell, and they can also sense tiny electric signals given off by other animals.

The Australian Museum lists worms, crabs, shrimp, amphipods and small fishes as prey, detected by olfaction and by electroreception, the ability to sense weak electric fields. The IUCN notes that activity depends on tide and light: the sharks are more active at low water and, although they hunt by day, most active after dark and around dawn and dusk.

Newly hatched sharks live off a yolk sac stored in a bulging belly; as it is used up, juveniles become more slender and start foraging for worms, crustaceans and small fishes (Florida Atlantic University).

Epaulette sharks walk across the reef on their fins.

They can even walk out of the water. They hide in small holes in the coral.

The epaulette shark is a walking shark. It wriggles its body and pushes with its paddle-like fins to walk along the sea floor, and it can even walk out of the water.

When the tide goes out, it can be trapped in warm, shallow pools with very little oxygen. Scientists found it can survive about two hours with no oxygen at all. It also squeezes into small crevices in the reef to hide from birds and bigger fish.

Epaulette sharks walk both in and out of water. On reef flats isolated by the outgoing tide they face short periods of high carbon dioxide, hypoxia and fluctuating temperature; the IUCN notes they live in waters about 15 centimeters deep and around 30 °C that become severely hypoxic at night.

The senior author of the 2022 study, Marianne Porter of Florida Atlantic University, described locomotion as key to survival for a small, bottom-dwelling mesopredator that maneuvers into small reef crevices to avoid aerial and aquatic predators. The researchers suggest these abilities may matter for coping with climate change, a question for future study.

Epaulette sharks are not in danger.

Many live in a big protected ocean park. People keep the reef healthy so the sharks have a home.

The IUCN lists the epaulette shark as Least Concern. Much of its home on Australia's east coast is inside marine parks, including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, where it is common on some reefs.

A small number are collected for aquariums. Protecting coral reefs protects their home.

The IUCN's 2015 assessment classes the species as Least Concern globally and in Australia, with a stable trend and no major identified fishing pressure; marine parks protect much of its critical habitat on the east coast. A small aquarium trade targets it. The assessment is flagged as needing an update.

The same assessment treated sharks around New Guinea as a separate subpopulation, Near Threatened because of destructive fishing and pollution of coral reef habitat; the Australian Museum's current account treats the species as endemic to the Great Barrier Reef. Its tolerance of low oxygen may help it survive in areas of poor water quality (IUCN).