Although I\u2019d hoped to see a wobbegong shark while scuba diving in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, I\u2019d kept my expectations low. After all, in the underwater world, Mother Nature is in charge \u2013 you can\u2019t just demand your wish list of what you want to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thankfully, my dive guide Yeray Moreno knew exactly what to look out for to maximise our chances of setting eyes on this\u00a0weird-looking shark<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n As we approached an overhang with tiny fish swarming around it like confetti, Moreno started swimming towards it. Not with the gentle amble of a diver idly perusing the reef<\/a> but purposefully, as if he was looking for something specific. And he found it.\u00a0<\/p>\n He looked round and called me over, signalling ‘shark’ by putting his hand to his forehead like a shark\u2019s fin. I hoped he didn\u2019t hear my excitable squeal. Despite clocking up just shy of 300 dives, I\u2019ve still not mastered withholding my slightly pathetic squeak of joy when we see something really epic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wobbegongs are ambush predators<\/a>. They love hideouts surrounded by small fish such as glassfish, Moreno told me after our dive. \u201cThey\u2019re not after them,\u201d he says, \u201cbut what they do is wait for the predator of those little fish to come by\u2026 and then they catch it.\u201d Sometimes they even eat\u00a0other sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n I glided down to the shark\u2019s level and there it was: a\u00a0tasselled wobbegong<\/a>. Despite the anticipation that I might see one of these curious sharks, I wasn\u2019t expecting it to be so beautiful.\u00a0<\/p>\n The intricate patterns dappled across its brown body wouldn\u2019t look out of place on a pair of 70s curtains and its fleshy beard was nothing short of bizarre, but I was transfixed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both its markings and the tasselled skin flaps around its head help this carpet shark blend into the seabed while it waits to pounce on its prey.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The divers spotted the wobbegong shark beneath an overhang. Credit: Melissa. Hobson<\/p>\n Seeing the moment of an attack is rare. \u201cYou don’t really see them actively hunting,\u201d says Moreno. \u201cHowever, we do see them swimming sometimes from hideout to hideout. Depending on the current, they like to be where there\u2019s more fish action.\u201d<\/p>\n They also are quite territorial,\u201d he says, \u201cThey have their [favourite] hideouts and change from one another.\u201d As head of experience and conservation at\u00a0Rascal Voyages<\/a>, Moreno is lucky enough to dive Raja Ampat\u2019s reefs regularly enough to get to know which hiding places the sharks prefer to lurk in.\u00a0<\/p>\n If I hadn\u2019t been with Moreno, I could easily have swum right past it. And many divers and snorkellers do.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFunnily enough, I’ve seen plenty of times people just diving over the coral and they completely ignore them because they blend in,\u201d he says. Despite its large size, the individual tucked neatly under the coral ledge remained perfectly still for several minutes (wobbegong sharks don\u2019t have to swim to breathe).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n