Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:03 Welcome to brain junk. I'm Tracy <inaudible> and I'm Amy Barton and this is a brainstorm today. I bring you land sharks because how can you not get excited about land sharks? I kind of want to know what they look like. Here's a picture. These look like toothless from how to train your dragon is what these guys look like, except they're stripey sort of like zebra sharks. They're quite lovely looking. So now when you say land shark, do you mean like the fish crawls on land so they, they're very interesting. They are a little bit like the Galapagos species. Yeah. Land sharks had been around in Australia and Papua New Guinea. There are four or five <inaudible> of the <inaudible>, Paulette sharp. They have been isolated from other species and so they have evolved a little bit differently in this niche. And so they live in Island D areas though they are in an area where there's lots of structure near the shore and it'll get very deep at times when the tide is up.
Speaker 0 01:02 But when the tide goes out, they're suddenly away from their food source. And so these sharks, they have the pectoral fins, like all the other sharks. But in the pictures you can see they've got their front and back fins, kinda like they're whoring along through the sand. So they're just creeping along. And that way when the tide is out, they can still get to all the little crustaceans in the coral and they can still eat. And so they actually have a better chance of catching the food because you know, tide goes out, everybody relaxes on the reef and comes out because the tide's out. Well, land sharks just start crawling around and now they have to breathe in the water. So are they holding their breath as they're going from place to place? They're surviving with less oxygen. Yeah. So their oxygen depleted. So I don't think it's a good long term.
Speaker 0 01:45 They're not just basking on the beach all the time. It's purposeful behavior. And then they go back. But it does give them the edge and gives them a great access to a food source. The other predators might not have sneaky. Yeah. When you say land shark, I'm envisioning like, well, great white shark. We're going to need a bigger boat. That's it. Yeah. They're about the size of a yard stick. They're kind of skinny. Almost more like aF eel with feet. Yes, exactly. Okay. It's not going to be like it's chomping its way across coming at me. If you're not paying attention, you might actually step on it accidentally. So watch when you're on the reefs of Papa new Guinea in Queensland, Australia area, don't step on them. They might not actually get far as the beach too. They'd probably gone a little astray if they're up on the beach because they want to be with the food.
Speaker 0 02:32 They're not just out having a perambulation for grins. Yeah. And they're going from hole to hole. Yeah. They're looking for looking for food. So if they've gone to the beach, maybe shoe them back to wrong way. Tiny footed fish. Wrong way. But I love that idea. Like ticking along. Especially if you saw, well like you said, they're on the reef so you probably don't even footprints. No. Cause that would be kind of cool to see if little weird wiggly footprints going along. Imagine they'd look like really long baby turtle tracks. Oh yeah. With a tail in the middle. Uh, scientists like Christine Dudgeon from the university of Queensland in Australia have discovered there are more land sharks than we expected and they are evolving more quickly than we had expected. Wow. We normally do not see evolution happen quite so rapidly of any species. It's millions and millions of years.
Speaker 0 03:29 Uh, but these guys have developed a little more rapidly because they are sequestered from other species. So they've got a really tight small group. And so we can see that progression of the change from just being completely aquatic in fewer generations to, they slowly access the land more and more, and then those fins actually become more muscular and able to pull them along. So what you're saying is in like a thousand years, they'll need somebody to make them shoes. Yeah. They might stand up and wave at you by then and say, I'd like some of that sandwich please. There you go. Just walking along with their little feet. Yeah, I hope so. Anytime you need another dose of random fact. Tastic science deliciousness. Oh my. That was way too much. You can find us on Twitter. Is that my brain junk? And we're on Facebook and Instagram as brain junk podcast. Amy and I will catch you next time when we share more of everything you never knew you wanted to know and I guarantee you will not be bored.
