Elasmobranchs Are Cool!

You know it was an awesome whale watch when this enormous basking shark sighting was an afterthought.

Spotted eagle rays often leave craters in the sand as they submerse their large heads and excavate buried prey. They dig up clams and larger individuals will even occasionally crack through a conch.

Eagle Rays do not have typical teeth; instead they have hardened dental plates in the upper and lower jaws, which they use for grinding and crushing mollusc shells.

Frilled Sharks (Chlamydoselachus anguineus)

by Grant Lubyckij

The frilled shark has distinct 300 pin-shaped, backwards-facing teeth and consumes prey whole, with the teeth helping to ‘trap’ prey.

First described in 1884, the frilled shark received its name from the six frilly protruding gills on either side of its nape.  An ancient species of shark and one of two living species from the prehistoric Chlamydoselachus family, its lineage is thought to date back to the Late Cretaceous period, 95 million years ago…

(read more: Australian Geographic)