SHARK’S EGGS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 52, 24 November 1928, Page 27

SHARK’S EGGS

If ninety-nine out of every 100 beach visitors were to pick up a Port Jackson shark’s egg (says the “Sydney Mail”) they ■would think it a thing of 'wondrous beauty, ,choicely rare in colouring; yet they would never guess it to be the egg of this non-dangerous shark, also the only species in Australian water that is oviparous. All other deliver their oung in the ordinary manner. The eggs are also extraordinary in design. They might also be thought to be of remarkable size, because they are as large almost as a duck’s egg, composed of a black gelatinous substance, having concave spirals, beautifully coloured, traversing, them, and long-twisted tendrils at one end that apparently do the duty of anchorage work. It is quite obvious that once the parent parts with the eggs she takes no further responsibility,, leaving the future young oviparians to shift as best they may for themselves. The action of the sea upon the egg, it is said, is gradually to burst the spirals open as growth proceeds; but, left in the sun, the eggs harden into these objects of rare beauty