Meet 2025’s March Madness Winner: Epaulette Shark

Image Source: Epaulette Shark (Hemicyllium ocellatum) by Julia Saper via iNaturalist

By: Christina Andrea Alvear

Meet the Walking Shark!

If Nancy Sinatra could sing to this winning shark, she’d sing:

These fins were made for walkin’
And that’s just what they’ll do
One of these days, these fins are gonna walk all over you!

Can a shark walk in shallow reef flats? The Epaulette shark can! When this shark experiences temperature fluctuations and low oxygen levels, it just uses its paddlel-ike pectoral fins to crawl to the next area.  This walking pattern has been described as a salamander-like walking gait.  The shark has a slender eel body type that allows it to hide in nooks and crannies of coral beds.  This shark has a creamy brown color speckled with spots and a characteristic pair of black false eyespots ringed in white above its pectoral fins.  Contrary to other deep sea shark predators, this shark’s rounded snout, nasal barbells, and bulging cat-like eyes make it look like a grumpy cat you’d want to cuddle! They frequently come in contact with humans and can be kept in a large aquarium, but are best appreciated at a distance in their natural habitat.  These sharks usually do not exceed 3 ft and live for 20-25 years.

The Story Behind the Name Epaulette


An epaulette is an ornamental shoulder piece used in the military to show a soldier’s rank.  Image source: Epaulette by Pearson Scott Foresman, public domain via Wikimedia commons 



The epaulette shark was named after its false eye spots that rest off the edge of the pectoral fins.  These spots are black with a white border and are thought to resemble epaulettes on a military shoulder.  Besides its main name, the epaulette shark has other aliases: blind shark, carpet shark, cat shark, and walking shark.  

Shark Diet
These sharks are bottom feeders with different food preferences during various times of their development.  As juveniles, epaulette sharks prefer polychaete worms and as adults they prefer crabs.  Overall when they are not eating their food of choice, they eat small bony fish and shrimp.  They are nocturnal hunters, but have also been seen hunting at dusk and dawn.

Habitat
You can find these walking sharks off the coasts of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Epaulette sharks prefer to spend their time in the warm shallow water of coral reefs and tidal pools.  During the breeding season, August to December, females will lay 2 eggs in a sac every two weeks.  These eggs are laid near coral rocks where they can become entangled and locked into place.

Predators
The shark’s natural predators are larger sharks and fish such as groupers.

Threats
According to the IUCN, these sharks are not facing a significant threat of extinction, however they are still being monitored because of their potential decline due to climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, and the aquarium trade.

Support Our Cause
With your help and support, you can help MISS support researchers of color interested in pursuing research to better understand and conserve these sharks.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more updates on MISS!   


Interested in Learning More? Feel free to explore the MISS website and these links below. 

• Epaulette Shark Walks on Land-Nature on PBS
• Aquarium of the Pacific-Epaulette Shark
• Research paper-The science behind the walking and swimming of the epaulette shark
• Tennessee Aquarium-Epaulette Shark

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