Japanese Wobbegong

Photo: Matt Boyle · © all rights reserved

Elaborately fringed wobbegongs lie motionless along IOP's rocky ledges, their flattened bodies and dermal lobes matching encrusted substrate so precisely that divers often nearly touch them before realising. As ambush predators, they lunge at passing fish and crustaceans with explosive speed, playing a key role in controlling benthic fish densities on temperate Japanese reefs.