--- title: Walking Sharks Are Strutting All Over the Ocean Floor description: Scientists have discovered four new species of walking sharks and the ocean somehow seems even more mysterious than before. canonical: https://time.com/5771247/walking-sharks/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-01-24T19:56:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:14.839Z og:title: Walking Sharks Are Strutting All Over the Ocean Floor og:description: Here's what we know about these strolling sea creatures og:url: https://time.com/5771247/walking-sharks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5390cda4c094675a/698a094709208f5a7e41637a/walking-sharks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: walking-sharks og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Walking Sharks Are Strutting All Over the Ocean Floor twitter:description: Here's what we know about these strolling sea creatures twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5390cda4c094675a/698a094709208f5a7e41637a/walking-sharks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Remarkable Walking Sharks Are Strutting All Over and Here's Their Deal  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 24, 2020 7:56 PM UTC  Hemiscyllium michaeli, the leopard epaulette shark, is a tropical shark found in the shallow ocean in the Milne Bay region of eastern Papua New Guinea. Hemiscyllium michaeli, the leopard epaulette shark, is a tropical shark found in the shallow ocean in the Milne Bay region of eastern Papua New Guinea.Mark V. Erdmann—Conservation International  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 24, 2020 7:56 PM UTC Scientists have discovered four new species of walking [sharks](https://time.com/4800792/how-sharks-became-so-scary/) proving the [ocean](https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/) somehow can always seem a little more mysterious. According to a [study](http://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/MF19163) published in the _Marine and Freshwater Research_ journal on Tuesday, the _Hemiscylliidae_ genus of sharks “walk” using their pectoral and pelvic fins to move across the ocean floor and live in coastal waters around northern Australia and the island of New Guinea. But if you’re now having visions of a walking [Jaws](https://time.com/3929301/jaws-40th-anniversary/) strolling toward you through the surf, not to worry. The scientists who authored the study say that walking sharks, also called “epaulette” sharks, pose no [threat to humans](https://time.com/5401636/shark-attacks-us/) as they are less than a meter long on average and feed on only small fish and invertebrates. > [](https://twitter.com/Vesociaa/status/1220375860018130946) “Walking sharks present no threat to people but their ability to withstand low oxygen environments and walk on their fins gives them a remarkable edge over their prey of small crustaceans and molluscs,” Christine Dudgeon, the lead author of the study, and a researcher at Australia’s University of Queensland, said in a [statement](https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2020/01/walking-sharks-discovered-tropics). The discovery of four new species brings the total number of known walking shark species to nine. These sharks are thought to have started to evolve around 9 million years ago (not long at all in evolutionary terms), which makes them the “youngest” sharks on the planet, according to Mark Erdmann, a co-author of the study, and the vice president of Conservation International’s Asia-Pacific marine division. “The discovery proves that modern sharks have remarkable evolutionary staying power and the ability to adapt to environmental changes,” Erdmann told [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/world/walking-sharks-recently-evolved-scn-trnd/index.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5771247/walking-sharks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5771247/walking-sharks/"},"headline":"Remarkable Walking Sharks Are Strutting All Over and Here's Their Deal","datePublished":"2020-01-24T19:56:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:14.839Z","description":"Here's what we know about these strolling sea creatures","url":"https://time.com/5771247/walking-sharks/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","viral","onetime","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5390cda4c094675a/698a094709208f5a7e41637a/walking-sharks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5390cda4c094675a/698a094709208f5a7e41637a/walking-sharks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"walking-sharks","caption":"Juvenile walking sharkHemiscyllium michaeli, the leopard epaulette shark, is a species of bamboo shark in the genus Hemiscyllium. 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