Whitespotted Bamboo Shark Courtship and Mating | Chiloscyllium plagiosum | Japan

Male whitespotted bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium plagiosum) biting the pectoral fin of a female shark during courtship. Unusually for sharks, these bamboo sharks seem to mate on a one-to-one basis. In other shark species, females are usually mobbed by multiple males. The male's two claspers are clearly visibly in this image, as are the male's siphon sacs, which are inflated with sea water for the purpose of washing the shark's semen into the female's cloaca during the actual act of mating. The siphon sacs depicted here seem to be inflated to a greater degree than seen in most other shark species. The entire courtship and mating process spanned at least eight hours. From the time that the male grasped the female's pectoral fin to the end of actual mating was approximately one hour.

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Filename: mating-whitespotted-bamboo-sharks-chiloscyllium-plagiosum-japan-201405-0228.tif
Copyright: Copyright Tony Wu. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any form without prior written permission
Image Size: 6909x4606 / 91.1MB; https://www.photoshelter.com/support/license#rm; https://www.tony-wu.com/contact-tony-wu; Cartilaginous Fish Shark Carpet Shark Bamboo Shark Animalia Chordata Chondrichthyes Elasmobranchii Orectolobiformes Hemiscyllidae Chiloscyllium plagiosum Bluespotted Bamboo Shark Whitespotted Bamboo Shark Near Threatened: IUCN Red List Reproduction Courtship Mating Oviparous Siphon Sacs Pacific Japan Shikoku Kochi-ken Aki-gun Toyo-cho Kannoura
Contained in galleries: Marine Life Reproduction, Chondrichthyes, Marine Life | Japan

Male whitespotted bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium plagiosum) biting the pectoral fin of a female shark during courtship. Unusually for sharks, these bamboo sharks seem to mate on a one-to-one basis. In other shark species, females are usually mobbed by multiple males. The male's two claspers are clearly visibly in this image, as are the male's siphon sacs, which are inflated with sea water for the purpose of washing the shark's semen into the female's cloaca during the actual act of mating. The siphon sacs depicted here seem to be inflated to a greater degree than seen in most other shark species. The entire courtship and mating process spanned at least eight hours. From the time that the male grasped the female's pectoral fin to the end of actual mating was approximately one hour.