Welcome back to this week’s episode of the SHARK PAGEANT. Last week we talked about adorable and cuddly Nurse Shark. This week we are swimming into the Savannah to find our next contestant- she's spotted, she's quick and her name is… Zebra Shark. Let’s welcome our newest contestant competing for Ultimate Grand Sharky Supreme.
Our first category tonight will be Appearance. Zebra Shark is stunning and is guaranteed to get all eyes on her when she isn’t camouflaging in her rock-filled home. She flaunts her spectacular spotted skin with every move she makes, Her silky skin in due to her nightly care routine and that she spends a lot of time in saltwater. Saltwater is a known exfoliate that helps clean out pores and restore the skin's natural pH balance.
While Zebra Shark was less than a foot long when she was born she has now grown to be over 12 feet tall, really giving normal models a run for their money. As an adult, she closely resembles a Leopard shark but her name Zebra Shark is still more accurate, because in her youth she was dark brown and yellow with stripes but they faded away in adulthood. Her flexible body allows her to squeeze into all of the smallest crevices giving her the powerful ability to sneak attack and her long tail accounts for almost half of her body. Zebra Shark earns a 9.3/10 in Appearance.
The next category we will be judging precious Zebra Shark on is desirability. Humans are commonly seen as Zebra Sharks' biggest fan as we love to kidnap her and bring her to fisheries. Her meat is prized in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Her liver fetches a strong price for its heavy concentration of vitamins and her fins are chopped off to serve in shark-fin soup, a traditional delicacy in Chinese Culture. With all these fans many of Zebra Sharks’ friends go missing every year. And because of all this heartbreak, she has helped beg for new protection laws for her relatives. In America, Shark fining is illegal but the fins can still be bought and sold from fisheries without shark fining bans. All of these horrendous and vile attacks on Zebra Shark have greatly damaged her population and she is now considered to be on the IUCN Red List. Thankfully in Australia Zebra Shark thrives as
she is much less desirable “Down Under”. Zebra Shark scores an 8.1/10 in Desirability.
The final category that Zebra Shark will be judged on is Special Skills. Zebra Shark is a lover of travel and while she often lives in salty ocean water she sometimes vacations in brackish or freshwater habitats. She also works the night shift and is therefore found sleeping on the ocean floor during the day. Like Nurse Shark her specialized gills allow her to stop swimming while she sleeps. Zebra Shark’s spots aren’t the only thing that makes them cat-like. They have barbels that appear like cat whiskers on the bottom of their snouts. This whiskers are extra sensory organs that allow them to sense prey under the sand. Zebra Shark is a character full of many talents earning her a score of 9.4/10 in Special Skills.
Zebra Shark was a beautiful contestant this week on the Shark Pageant. She was scored in the categories of Appearance, Desirability, and Special Skills. She impressed us with her delicately spotted skin and long beautiful tail. She also has suffered tremendously at the hands of humans and shows great courage attending the pageant today. Zebra Shark’s overall score is an 8.93/10.