Zebra shark

Did you know?

Juveniles are dark brown with white zebra-like stripes, while adults are tan with brown leopardlike spots. Their appearance has given this shark has at least three common names—zebra shark, leopard shark and zebra/leopard shark. Common names can be confusing, which is why we depend on scientific names for identifying animals and plants.

Male sharks use modified pelvic fins called claspers to transfer sperm into the female's reproductive tract. The zebra female lays fertilized eggs in tough capsules covered with tufts of filaments to attach the eggs to the seafloor.

Conservation

Zebra sharks are fished for their meat, which is eaten fresh or dried and salted like jerky. Their fins are used for shark fin soup or in traditional Chinese medicines. In some countries, shark fin soup is an expensive delicacy that can cost $100 or more for one serving.

After fisheries catch sharks, they often strip off the high-value fins and toss the rest of the shark overboard. This process is called "finning." Often, the shark is still alive and lies helpless on the seafloor until they die. Worldwide trade in shark fins increased from 3,300 tons in 1980 to 12,900 tons in 2000.

To curtail this slaughter of sharks, the United States government passed a law in 2000 that forbids shark finning and possessing shark fins without shark bodies, and prohibits foreign fishing vessels from shark finning in the United States' exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Canada, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand are also managing shark fisheries, but many countries have no regulations.

Cool facts

• Sharks sink if they stop swimming since they don't have gas-filled swim bladders like most other fishes. Their oil-rich livers help with buoyancy but not enough to keep the sharks afloat.
• An albino zebra shark was discovered in 1973 in the Indian Ocean. She had a grayish tail but was otherwise uniformly white without the usual dark spots seen on adults. Scientists were surprised she had survived, as her coloring would make her more vulnerable to predators.
• Many sharks must swim to breath by forcing oxygenated water over their gills. But bottom-dwelling species like the zebra sharks can pump water over their gills, either through their mouths or through the large spiracles behind each eye. To ease the task of pumping all that water over their gills, the sharks face into the ocean current.