#I am deeply sorry and also deeply sleep deprived please forgive this trainwreak of a thought I have decided to release into the internet

[porodermalinger]

Allow me to bombard all those unfortunate enough to view this post with information around my most cherished of sharks: the pyjama shark! My blog name is a version of their latin name, but did you know that this version of their name is a bit of a mystery?

(All pictures are from iNaturalist, I take full responsibility for turning this photo into a shitty meme)

Like most sharks on the smaller side (and plenty or large sharks too), pyjama sharks are woefully understudied. A good example is their latin name: poroderma africanum.

The second half is easy enough, 'africanum' referring to the fact that pyjama sharks are endemic to South Africa. Even this isn't quite as straightforward as it seems, since there are (unconfirmed) historical records of pyjama sharks in Madagascar; we currently have no evidence to prove or disprove this.

As for 'poroderma', this can literally be interpreted as 'porous skin'. Why is this so notable in pyjama sharks? Truthfully, I do not know. Like most sharks, they use Ampulla of Lorenzini to sense their surroundings, but as far as we know, there is no reason why the skin of pyjama sharks is particularly noticeable.

To make up for this, all of their common names (Pyjama shark, pyjama catshark, striped catshark) are fairly self-explanatory. Everybody say 'thank you pyjama sharks' for having a cool name