NEW JERSEY – New Jersey SEA LIFE Aquarium needs your help in naming a pair of female Epaulette Sharks.
These interesting creatures were born at SEA LIFE Arizona and found their new home at SEA LIFE New Jersey’s Reef at Day exhibit. These cute baby sharks are 18-months old.
The aquarium is doing a naming contest on their Instagram account @sealifenj on August 25. Guests can suggest names for the pair. Help them by heading to their Instagram stories today.
These fascinating sharks are named after the dark spot on their “shoulder”, which look a bit like a military epaulette. This is a type of eyespot, which helps them look bigger than they actually are, to avoid predation. They can grow to a length of three feet.
Epaulette sharks are found in shallow water off the coast of Australia and New Guinea. In the wild, they spend a lot of time in tidepools, where their flexible bodies help them navigate tight crevices. Rather than swim, they often “walk” by wriggling their bodies and pushing with their paired fins. They are usually most active at night, and feed on a wide variety of benthic crustaceans, worms and small fish.
Unlike many sharks that eat their food in one gulp, epaulettes tend to take smaller bites and chew their meals thoroughly.
