Species Spotlight · 03 Sep 2019
Our resident “big mouth 2” (as fellow intern Dickie likes to call her) is back with a shark specialty in progress — and a headful of facts she can't wait to share.
First up: sharks don't have bones. Their skeletons dissolve in the ocean after death, which is why all that's left behind on the sea floor is teeth. And despite their fearsome reputation, sharks carry the largest brain of any fish in the ocean — bigger, she jokes, than her own two fists put together.
Shark reproduction is just as wild. Gestation can take up to two years, during which embryos will actually attack each other in the womb. Their hearing is just as extreme — sharks can detect sound from as far away as 915 metres.
Nicola's favourite is the whale shark — the biggest fish in the ocean. Each one carries a unique spot pattern, much like a fingerprint, and a single litter can contain up to 300 pups. She's a strong advocate for getting whale sharks off the endangered species list.
With around 450 known shark species out there to learn about, Nicola reckons the Shark Specialty course is well worth signing up for.