John Pogonoski, an ichthyologist in Australia, wasn’t about to be fooled by any moray eels. He knew the serpentine fish like to hide among the nooks and crannies of large sponges. But as he surveyed sponges collected from a remote seabed off the coast of Western Australia, he stumbled on a complete surprise — a small shark tail poking out of a sponge’s cavernous body. “Sponges, though, this is new.”The word “shark” may conjure images of gargantuan great whites or hefty hammerheads. The banded sand catshark, maxing out around a foot and a half in length, is on the smaller end of the spectrum.

---

Persons: John Pogonoski, Atelomycterus, Pogonoski, ”, David Shiffman Organizations: Commonwealth Scientific, Industrial Research Organization, CSIRO, Fish Biology, Arizona State University Locations: Australia, Western Australia