Wobbegong Caught on Camera Swallowing Bamboo Shark Whole

By Laura Matthews | February 14 2012 8:32 PM

Researchers caught a wobbegong shark on camera halfway through swallowing a whole bamboo shark along Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The photos were released earlier this month, the National Geographic reported, noting that Daniela Ceccarelli and David Williamson, from Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, happened on the event when they were conducting a fish census on Great Keppel Island.

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Wobbegong is the name given to the different species of carpet sharks. They are found chiefly around Australia and Indonesia.

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The first thing that caught my eye was the almost translucent white of the bamboo shark, Ceccarelli noted in an e-mail to National Geographic.

Ceccarelli was expecting to see the front portion of the bamboo shark hidden. However, when she swam closer she saw a camouflaged wobbegong and the head of the bamboo shark was inside its mouth.

The bamboo shark was motionless and definitely dead, she said.

Ceccarelli said she doubt it's the first time something like this has happened. She does think, however, that this is the first published photograph of a wobbegong swallowing another shark, National Geographic reported.

See the photo of the shark swallowing the other here.