If only I could give you two upvotes. One for Australia being the most dangerous place in the known universe, and two for the messed up looking D&D beastie. Well played, my friend.
With several records of apparently unprovoked attacks on people, the tasselled wobbegong has a reputation beyond other wobbegongs for aggressive behavior.
My son had a book called "You're Called What?!" which featured a tasseled wobbegong, alongside other animals such as the Shovelnose Guitarfish, Bone Eating Snot Flower Worm, and the Aha Ha.
My partner and I have this thing where we ask each other if we are the other person's x, where x is something ridiculous, cute, grotesque, or profane. For example, I once asked my partner if I was her gutter-bloated corpse, to which she, of course, answered in the affirmative.
I'll soon find out if I am actually a tasselled wobbegong carpet shark in the eyes of my partner.
As an aside, I asked the corpse thing after reading this delightful line from one of my very favorite books:
“Body found floating by the docks,” Glokta breathed, “bloated by seawater and horribly mutilated… far… far beyond recognition.”
This planet is so beautiful and wonderful. And underneath its waters is an entirely different world, full of wild and majestic creatures just like the Tasselled Wobbegong here. I pray that we act quick enough on our climate initiatives to save these things for the future.
When I was getting my bio degree, carpet sharks (including Wobbegons) are what I was most interested in studying. Just about every family in the order is fascinating in some way.
Basically. They're ambush hunters that pop up and snatch/vacuum prey into their maws. I recall the tassels are also attractive to fish that look for food in the sand, but don't quote me on that.