Welcome to the Marine Mili series, a regular column about all things marine!  During this series I aim to inspire people to want to protect our oceans and all the marine life that call our oceans home. Hopefully after reading each column, you would have learnt something new including what we can do to help protect and preserve our oceans. You can follow me and my journey on my Instagram page: _marine_mili. 

I’m sure you would have heard people say that most sharks feed at night and at sunset, right?

However, this isn’t true for all shark species.

The Port Jackson shark is one of many other nocturnal species that tends to be most active in the middle of the night and not at sunset or during the day.

Port Jackson sharks have very different teeth compared to other shark species; they aren’t large, sharp or serrated and the teeth at the front of their mouth are different to those at the back.

Their scientific name Heterodontus portusjacksoni reflect this difference. In fact, the word Heterodontus refers directly to their different teeth. Hetero means different and dontus means tooth.

This species is considered as harmless to humans and don’t attack unless they feel threatened. 

It can suck up food from the ocean floor and discard any sand they picked up through their gills while still having the food in their mouths.

Port Jackson sharks eat echinoderms, crustaceans, molluscs and some small fish.

Studies done on the shark's diet has found that almost every Port Jackson shark has large gastropods and echinoderms in their diets.

Another interesting fact about the Port Jackson shark is the screwlike shape of their egg cases.

Once Port Jackson shark mothers lay their eggs, they must leave the eggs somewhere safe, as they can’t carry the eggs around with them.

Therefore, they wedge their eggs into rocks or tight spaces where the top of the screw shaped egg sits safely and stably, still allowing one end of the egg not to be closed in, so when the shark is ready to hatch, it can.