DIVE LOG Australasia

Juvenile female Grey Nurse at Fish Rock begin to mate at about eight years.

exposed length. (see the photograph of the Wobbegongs’ claspers.) The upper side is smooth soft skin. It looks sandpapery but only on the lower half lengthways. There are millions of opportunistic feeders in the sea such as Sabre Tooth Blennies. Around Sydney, they swim amongst schools of Eastern Hula fish. Their special trick is to dart out at an unsuspecting fish and to use its massive sabre tooth fangs to bite a chunk of flesh off them. Then they scurry off into their hidey hole. The stunned fish has a painful hole in its side.

How safe are male shark’s claspers from such biting fish? How do they stop fish from biting at their claspers? This must be a very annoying problem for male sharks. I think the fact that the lower length of the clasper is covered with the sandpapery denticles may offer the shark some protection from those nasty blennies. Well, we have another mystery in the world of sharks! This then makes for a problem for the female sharks during mating.

Elongated male claspers during mating season at South Solitary Island

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DIVE LOG Australasia #408 - October ‘24