A new species of shark has been discovered in Australia and they use their fins to 'walk' on land.
The sharks walk around on the bottom of the sea floor, in waters off Northern Australia, making it easier for them to catch their prey.
Instead of swimming, the new technique helps them hunt and once learnt has now been passed on to their offspring from birth.
Experts have been aware of walking sharks in recent years and they say the predators have big advantages by being able to move along the sea floor rather than swimming.
Research published in the journal Marine & Freshwater Research says it appears to help the sharks hunt for ground-dwelling prey.
Mark Erdmann, a co-author of the study, said: “Instead of swimming around, these little bottom-dwelling sharks actually ‘walk’ using their pectoral and pelvic fins, which makes it easier for them to poke their heads under coral and rocks as they look for small fish, snails and crustaceans to eat.
"We’ve found that most walking sharks spend their entire lives on the same reef they where they hatched — never really moving more than a mile out of this radius.
"The only way they can get across deep water or move a significant distance would be if they are on a reef that is moving due to tectonic plates shifting.”
He added that the sharks have just learnt the technique and are passing it among their groups with off-spring able to walk from birth.
Mr Erdmann added: “Speciation typically happens when individuals of a given species get separated from their main population - sometimes by walking or swimming or being carried away on a current to an isolated place.
“If they are lucky enough to survive and breed, eventually evolution will take this new population in a different direction and often leads to a new species.”
He added that the team of researches intend to study the walking sharks further and learn more about their habits.
Walking sharks are still a poorly-understood subset of the shark family tree with much more to discover about them.
