Meet the Little Shark That Walks in the Moonlight

Professor Pip crouched at the edge of a warm, shallow tidepool. The sky above was black and full of stars, and palm trees swayed silently in the salty breeze. He held a small lantern high, and the glow rippled across the clear water. He patted his damp lab coat pockets and pulled out his magnifying glass.

"Ah! Just what I need," he whispered.

Mia and Leo crouched beside him, snorkel masks pushed up on their foreheads.

"Now," said Pip quietly, "keep still, and watch that little ledge. Right… THERE."

Something small and speckled crept out of the shadows and into the lantern light. It had a slender body about the size of Pip's arm, covered in tiny white dashes and brown dots. And it wasn't swimming.

It was WALKING.

"Whoa!" whispered Mia. "Is that — is that a SHARK?"

"A Dudgeon walking shark!" said Pip, tail giving a giddy little swish. "Scientists just discovered it, right here in the tidepools of Papua New Guinea. There are only ten kinds of walking shark in the whole world. And right in front of us is one of them, using its fins like little feet."

Leo's mouth was completely open. "But sharks SWIM. Why is it walking?"

"Splendid question!" said Pip. "When the tide goes out, some of these shallow pools get cut off from the sea. There isn't enough water to swim in. But if a shark can walk to another pool… where do you think all the little trapped fish and crabs are?"

"In the puddles!" said Mia. "It's like a shark buffet!"

"Exactly right!" Pip laughed. "That is called an adaptation — a special skill an animal develops over millions of years to fit its life. This shark can even slow its heart and its breathing so it can stay out of the water for a couple of hours."

He shone the lantern gently. The little shark waddled across the rocks with a rippling, sideways wiggle, then slipped into the next pool with a soft PLOP.

Pip looked out at the moonlit sea. "The ocean," he whispered, "still has so many secrets. Somebody, somewhere, is going to discover the next one."

He handed each child a magnifying glass. "Now you try. Walk very slowly along the pools. Look for anything you have never seen before. Because you never know — the next new species might be waiting for YOU."