Port Jackson shark
Heterodontus portusjacksoni
— Where the name comes from
Heterodontus is “different-toothed”, from héteros and odoús, and it describes a mouth unusual in a shark: pointed at the front for gripping, with flat molars behind for grinding shells. Portusjacksoni names Port Jackson, the bay Sydney stands on. It is one of very few sharks that genuinely chews.
— Facts
- Group
- Fish · Actinopterygii · Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Bullhead sharks
- Habitat
- Rocky bottoms and kelp beds down to 100 metres
- Range
- The southern coasts of Australia
- Size
- 75–120 cm, up to 165 cm; 8–15 kg
- Diet
- Sea urchins, molluscs, crustaceans, small fish
- Lifespan
- 30 years
— Characteristics
- 01
By day it lies motionless in caves, often in company.
- 02
It has a blunt head with ridges over the eyes.
- 03
It can pump water over its gills while still, which many sharks cannot.
— What sets it apart
The egg it lays is a conical spiral, like a wood screw: the female takes it in her mouth and screws it into a crack in the rock, where it stays wedged for the ten to twelve months the embryo needs. No other marine animal produces anything like it. The adults, for their part, return every year to the same cave after migrations of eight hundred kilometres, and are found under the same boulder season after season.
