What does leopard shark eat

Its mouth is on the flat underside of its head and opens downward. Skimming above the sandy surface, juvenile leopard sharks pluck up crabs, clam siphons, fish eggs and the burrowing, hot dog-shaped fat innkeeper worm. As a leopard shark gets older, it starts eating more fish and fewer crabs. The leopard shark has been found with smoothhound sharks, bat rays and even octopuses in its stomach.

How does a leopard shark get buried prey? Divers have seen a shark swimming stealthily just above the sand, looking for the fleshy siphon of a clam sticking two or three inches above the bottom. If the shark is quick enough, it can grab the siphon in its teeth and yank it out of the sand, occasionally getting the whole clam in the process. Other times the clam senses the predator and yanks its siphon back to safety.

In this case — as well as when the shark goes after innkeeper worms — the shark shovels its nose into the sand. With a mighty twist of its body, the shark unearths a pile of sand and, if it's lucky, gets a clam or worm for its trouble.

Leopard sharks are made to feed on the bottom — their mouths are on the flat underside of their heads, and they open downward.

Although the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies this shark as a species of "least concern," studies indicate that populations could be vulnerable to overfishing. One reason for this is because the leopard shark takes a long time to grow to maturity — about a decade.

Setting a size limit for "keepers" helps. Right now a leopard shark must be 36 inches 91 cm long for anglers to keep it.

Because of its looks, the leopard shark is also a popular aquarium fish — just remember that fish below this size limit are illegal if they came from California waters. In , scientists dissected five leopard sharks caught in San Francisco Bay to see what they ate. On a hunch, they also had the fishes' livers analyzed. In all five they found high levels of mercury, a toxic element.

In , another study investigated pollutants in a variety of fish from San Francisco Bay, including eight leopard sharks. All eight had levels of mercury in their tissues that were over the accepted safe limit for humans. Mercury is an industrial pollutant that gets into coastal waters through rain and runoff.

Because the leopard shark spends so much time feeding in sand and mud, it likely gets exposed to more pollutants than other fish. The leopard shark also lives a long time, giving mercury levels longer to accumulate. We don't yet know whether such high mercury levels harm the leopard shark.

But evidence suggests it could be a bad idea for people to eat them — at least ones caught in San Francisco Bay. Live cam. These ocean predators are as interesting as they are elegant. Explore below to learn more about sharks. Sleek and elegant, soupfins are highly prized for their meat and fins — which has resulted in a precipitous population decline. At first glance, this shark looks like its cousins — rays and skates — with its flattened body and large pectoral fins.

Download a beautiful, high-resolution scalloped hammerhead shark wallpaper for your desktop or mobile device. Leopard sharks live in shallow waters of bays and estuaries and occasionally patrol the kelp forest, usually staying near the bottom. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.

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Tickets now on sale through December See visit information. Reserve member tickets. Animals Animals Animals A to Z. African penguin. See all animals. See sardines swirl and leopard sharks glide through kelp canopies on our Kelp Forest Cam. Watch live cam. Their diet includes invertebrates such as crabs, shrimp, octopi, fat innkeeper worms Urechis caupo , clam siphons, and fish such as midshipmen, sanddabs, shiner perch, bat rays, smoothhounds, and a variety of fish eggs Ebert, ; Talent, Leopard sharks have been known to mutilate their prey, taking only parts of the animals they ingest, leaving the rest.

For example, a number of clam siphons have been found in multiple specimens of leopard shark Talent, However, a body of a consumed clam has not been reported to be found. Female leopard sharks are ovoviviparous and can produce litters of 4 to 29 pups Compagno, The gestation period of the shark is between ten and twelve months, and birth usually occurs between April and May Hight, Predators Marine mammals prey upon young leopard sharks, and both juveniles and adults are vulnerable to large fish, including the white shark Carcharodon carcharias.

Girard first documented the leopard shark as Triakis semifasciatum in Since then, the species name has been modified to semifasciata. Discover Fishes Triakis semifasciata. Leopard Shark Leopard Shark. Danger to Humans The leopard shark poses virtually no danger to humans. Conservation Due to the relatively late age of first reproduction, the slow growth rate, and the low reproduction rate, the leopard shark is potentially threatened by over-fishing Compagno, Geographical Distribution World distribution map for the leopard shark Leopard sharks have a relatively narrow range, found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean from Oregon to the Gulf of California in Mexico Compagno, Habitat The leopard shark is most commonly found in sandy or muddy bays and estuaries either at or near the bottom.

Biology Leopard shark. Fish and Wildlife Service Distinctive Features The leopard shark has a relatively broad and short snout. Leopard shark. Fish and Wildlife Service Research has indicated that the erythrocytes red blood cells of the leopard shark are more diminutive and numerous than those of its relatives, the brown smooth-hound Mustelus henlei and the gray smoothhound Mustelus californicus. Coloration The leopard shark is conspicuously covered with dark saddles and splotches.

Dentition Leopard sharks produce tooth sets that form overlapping ridges between different tooth rows. Leopard shark with yellow tag through dorsal fin. Food Habits Leopard sharks feed primarily on benthic invertebrates and small fish Compagno, Leopard sharks feed on many species of fish including bat rays. Taxonomy Girard first documented the leopard shark as Triakis semifasciatum in Demography of the central California population of the Leopard Shark Triakis semifasciata.

Marine and Freshwater Research, 43 1 , Compagno, L. A field guide to the Sharks of the world. London: Collins. Blacktip Reef Shark Carcharhinus melanopterus. These sharks can grow up to 6 feet long. Learn More. Bonnethead Shark Sphyrna tiburo.

The bonnethead is one of the smallest members of the hammerhead genus. Horn Shark Heterodontus francisci. Nurse Shark Ginglymostoma cirratum. The nurse shark is light yellowish-brown to dark brown, and some have small dark spots. Sand Tiger Shark Carcharias taurus. Previous Next. Subscribe To Our Newsletter Sign up to receive updates on animals, news and events.