Sad truth revealed after rare shark 'love bite' ritual captured at Aussie aquarium
Grey nurse sharks, found in decreasing numbers off the Australian coast, only mate for a couple of weeks each year – and they're not very good at it.
Incredibly rare footage has emerged of two grey nurse sharks giving each other "love bites", which marine biologists say is a unique courtship ritual that's hardly ever seen up-close.
Grey nurse sharks — which are found worldwide in tropical waters, especially off the Australian coast — only mate for a couple of weeks each year. They are usually very docile sharks and are often considered "the labradors of the sea".
When courting each other, the male shark will start by "tailing" the female, Denice Askebrink, Curatorial Manager at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, told Yahoo News Australia.
"They will follow them, trying to get low and close to their pectoral fin," she said. "Then the male will attempt to bite onto the pectoral fin and flip the female over to complete the act of mating."
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Grey nurse sharks vulnerable due to their 'low breeding success'
In the footage, taken at Sea Life, the two sharks are shown rolling several times in the water — exhibiting "natural behaviour" the sharks display each year during their breeding season. While exciting to capture on camera, the ritual is unlikely to result in any pups according to Askebrink, because males "have trouble aiming".
"The males often get so excited at the thought of mating, that they lose focus and can’t inseminate the female. Grey nurse sharks will generally produce one or two pups in each litter."
It's actually this reason that's responsible for grey nurse sharks being listed as critically endangered.
"Grey nurse sharks are particularly vulnerable due to their low breeding success," Askebrink said. "These sharks reach sexual maturity at the age of six to eight years, which is quite late and give birth to only one or two young every second year — the lowest reproductive rate of any shark.”
Until recently, the grey nurse shark had a reputation in Australia as a "man-eater". This led to the indiscriminate killing of the species by spear and line fishers, further impacting their population's decline. Current threats to the species are largely due to incidental catch from commercial fisheries and recreational fishing.
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