Date:Monday Jan 5th, 8:00am
Happy Monday, everybody, and for many of us, welcome back to classes! Today's fish of the day is the Taiwan saddled carpetshark!
.png)
The Taiwan saddled carpetshark, also known by scientific name Cirrhoscyllium formosanum, is a small carpetshark of the Pacific ocean. Found around the Northwestern Pacific along Taiwan, this shark lives in subtropical coastal waters. Living at depths between 110m-320m, these sharks stay in areas of sandy bottom, or coral reefs. Like many carpetsharks, the Taiwan saddled carpetshark is a relatively poor swimmer, and must stay close to the seabed along the continental shelf.
.png)
Carpetsharks, like the Taiwan saddled carpetshark, are relatively small, as most carpetsharks come in at sizes under a meter. However, the Taiwan saddled carpetshark is known for being particularly small, even compared to close family in the Parascylliidae family, and even within their genus, as this shark has been found at a maximum length of 39cm, with most being only 30cm. Despite their small size, the Taiwan saddled carpetshark is an essential benthic predator, feeding on small fish, crustaceans, and invertebrates. However, these sharks have no protection against potential predators, beyond nocturnal behaviors, only feeding at night and hiding under rocks or around crevices in the day. Camouflage is everything for this shark, providing it the opportunity to both hunt and hide from predators, and the Taiwan saddled carpetshark is social, often hiding in groups and huddling into piles.
.png)
Very little is known about the reproduction and lifecycle of the Taiwan saddled carpetshark. Like others in the family, this shark is ovoviviparous, laying eggs very soon before the pup hatches, with embryo feeding from the yolk. Sadly, we have no information of litter sizes, longevity, or age of sexual maturity for this shark. This is due to the Taiwan saddled carpetshark only being known by 12 specimens to date, leaving us data defincent.
.png)
That's the Taiwan saddled carpetshark, everybody! I hope you enjoyed reading about them!