Leopard Shark

Photo: Pauline Fey · CC BY-NC

Leopard sharks rest motionless on the sandy floor between coral outcrops around the Isle of Pines, their distinctive spotted patterning providing perfect camouflage against the dappled lagoon floor. Unlike most sharks, they are nocturnal hunters using their lobed tail for a distinctive undulating swimming style, preying on molluscs, crustaceans, and small fish that they locate partly by electroreception — a sensory system detecting the bioelectric fields of buried prey.