#barbels

Spotted Wobbegong Shark- Wobbegong might sound like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, but it is a real word. It comes from a native Australian word that means “shaggy beard”. In Australia, wobbegong sharks are lovingly called “wobbies”.

"Shaggy beard" is an apt description because wobbegong sharks do look like they have a beard. They have whiskers (called barbels) around their noses, and flaps of skin that look like tiny fins around their mouths and eyes and on the sides of their heads.

The Child's Picture Scrap Book. Containing Upwards of Four Hundred Illustrations by John Gilbert, J. D. Watson, Wolf, Coleman, etc. 1865.

The functional usage of the barbels, which was thought to be sensory primarily for prey location, also constituted a portion of the courtship of Em. macquarii and El. latisternum and may suggest a sexual purpose.

In Em. macquarii and El. latisternum, males approached females with a series of dorsoventral head-bobs... attempted to align their barbels with those of the females, and began extended stroking of the barbels and snout with the forefeet and claws

Mating Behavior in Three Australian Chelid Turtles (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae) 

by James B. Murphy and William E. Lamoreaux.