A Sydney aquarium has captured incredible and rare footage of sharks courting by biting each other’s fins.
Mary-Lou and Murdoch, the two grey nurses, were seen giving each other love bites as the spring mating season begins.
“It’s like an underwater tango,” SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium aquarist Patrick Nelson said.
“We’ve captured incredible footage of these magnificent creatures tumbling and twirling in the water.
“It’s a rare and exciting sight that showcases their natural courting behaviours.”
The footage shows the “tough love” display between the two sharks.
Not only do male sharks bite the females, they also flip them upside down to put them into a state of “tonic immobility”, which has a hypnotic effect on the females and allows the male to fertilise the female.
Grey nurse sharks are critically endangered and one of the slowest species of shark to reproduce.
Females only breed once every two years.
Sydney Aquarium said it expects all of its five grey nurse sharks, two females and three males, to take part in mating rituals this year.
