These Sharks Have Evolved To Walk On Land

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  via Giphy

  This is an epaulette shark. They are found in the tropical waters of Australia and Papua New Guinea, and are usually under 3.3 feet long. They come in different shades of brown, yellow and beige with funky spotted or striped patterns. Oh, and they have evolved to be able to walk and survive out of water for much longer than you can hold your breath (around an hour). 

  
  

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  via Giphy

  Epaulette sharks are perfectly capable swimmers, but they're homebodies: they don't venture out of the reef they were born in. They love to spend time in shallow coral reefs and tidal pools, which are teeming with snacks for the small sharks. The thing about coral reefs or tidal pools is that their water levels rise and fall with the tide, so if epaulette sharks aren't careful, they could get stranded on the coral beds without water (which would mean imminent death for every other shark species). 

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  via Giphy

  Enter evolution. Since epaulette sharks spend so much time in shallow water with the chance of being stranded out there, they have developed the ability to "walk" with their fins. As you can see in the GIFs, it's more of a coordinated wriggle from side to side as they push themselves forward with each fin, but it definitely still counts as a walk. 

  Epaulette sharks have also developed the ability to survive out of water for much longer than their other, scarier family members. When an epaulette shark suddenly realizes it's been stranded on a coral reef, it has the ability to power down it's brain, slow it's breathing and slow it's heart rate, allowing it to survive on it's last breath for an hour. That's long enough for the shark to walk back to the water and to safety. 

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  via Giphy

  Evolution has some pretty cool tricks up it's sleeve, but seeing a shark develop the ability to walk on it's fins and survive out of water makes you really appreciate just how incredible nature is. 

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