Ocean Lovin - Free Baby-Making - Walking Sharks Break the Rules of Reproduction

About this episode

This episode explores groundbreaking research on the reproductive costs of epaulette sharks, challenging existing assumptions about energy use in reproduction.

Episode Description Making babies is expensive. For pretty much every species on the planet, reproduction is supposed to be the ultimate metabolic investment—a massive energy drain that can make organisms vulnerable to stress, predators, and environmental change. Except there's a small shark walking around the Great Barrier Reef that apparently didn't get the memo. In this episode of our Ocean Lovin' series, we explore groundbreaking research from James Cook University that's forcing scientists to completely rethink what they know about the costs of reproduction. Epaulette sharks—those amazing little "walking sharks" that can literally stroll across reef flats on their fins—can produce complex egg cases with developing embryos inside without any measurable increase in energy use. Zero. Zilch. Nada. It's like building a house without buying any extra lumber. Join hosts Andrew Kornblatt and Dr. Frances Farabaugh, along with returning guest co-host Dr. Skylar Bayer, as we dive into this surprising discovery with Professor Jodie Rummer from James Cook University. We'll explore how her team measured something no one had measured before—the metabolic cost of egg-laying in sharks—and…

People in this episode

Hosts: Andrew Kornblatt, Dr. Frances Farabaugh

Guest: Dr. Skylar Bayer

Topics covered

• reproduction
• sharks
• metabolic cost
• climate change
• marine biology

Keywords

• epaulette sharks
• reproduction
• metabolic cost
• James Cook University
• climate change
• marine biology
• walking sharks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: James Cook University

Places: Great Barrier Reef

More episodes of Ocean Science Radio

• One Team. One Chance. Diving for What Remains. · May 29, 2026 · 37 min
• Mining the Deep - Inside the Case for Seabed Extraction · March 31, 2026 · 46 min
• Tending the Tides - Oregon's Mariculture Revolution · February 3, 2026 · 28 min
• What We Don't Know About Deep-Sea Mining · December 30, 2025 · 28 min
• Protecting Half the Planet - The High Seas Treaty Comes Alive · November 27, 2025 · 42 min
• Art Meets Ocean - Inside Portland's Revolutionary Cartoon Aquarium · October 30, 2025 · 28 min