Every time I see a new species, it's a real
rush of excitement and adrenaline.
The Halmahera Walking Shark was a discovery
made at night, so we were out on a night dive.
When we came around the corner and were looking
underneath this coral head and there was a
walking shark, it was really, just this amazing
moment of excitement.
Walking sharks are a small, bottom dwelling
shark, no more than two-three feet long.
They basically walk across the bottom using
their pectoral and pelvic fins, at night,
looking for their food.
The walking basically allows them to poke their heads under coral heads and things, which they wouldn't be able to do if they were swimming.
Each of the nine species of walking sharks
have very different color patterns, so when
we first saw this one, we immediately suspected
it was new just based upon the different spot
patterns on its head.
It's that discovery of new knowledge, which
then allows us to form new hypotheses that
keeps science moving forward.
