Yeah, you read that right.
There are a few species of shark that have managed to evolve to be able to walk on land. Their ability comes from their pectoral and pelvic fins, that have gotten a larger range of motion and can now be used to let the shark walk along the floor of the ocean, shallow water, or even dry land. They also have the ability to survive for a while with very little oxygen, up to 2 hours, so they can walk outside of the water, going up to 30 meters onto shore according to some records. These sharks tend to live among shallow reefs, where the tide can sometimes pull back enough to leave shallow pools on the top full of various prey for the sharks, but they also go onto shore for the tidal pools there.
There are 9 species total that have been known do this so far. It's considered a recent evolution only seen among the newer species of this genus. These sharks, known as epaulette, carpet, bamboo, or walking sharks, can be found in Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. (When I found out about this, I just added it to the long list of reasons how Australia can kill someone. I'll post about that later.)
Before you freak out too much though, these sharks are tiny, only about 3 feet long or so, and rather slender, weighing only a few pounds apiece. They're also slow on land, so you can outwalk them if you're worried about that, and they wouldn't bite you even if they could because humans don't taste good to sharks, and they mostly eat worms and small crustaceans. Since you're reading this, I assume you aren't one of those.
Some scientists think that the 'walking' action these sharks use is similar to how our ancestors once left the ocean to become land-dwellers, and others say it's a reaction to climate change. So I suppose I should say that you shouldn't worry about them right now, but if we don't work on slowing down climate-change, we might be able to see larger sharks going after land-mammals a lot more. There have already been times when sharks have managed to eat moose, and a recent first-time event where a tiger shark threw up an echidna, so I'd rather not risk it too much if you don't mind.
If you follow the links below, you can find pictures of them, and some videos of them 'walking', along with more information about them if you want to know more.
Sources:
Ocean Society- Sharks That Walk On Land
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution- Scientists Discover Crafty Shark that Can Walk
The Smithsonian Magazine- Shark Can Walk On Land To Survive It's Extreme Habitat
The Aquarium Of The Pacific- Epaulette Shark
The New England Aquarium- Epaulette Shark
The Seattle Aquarium- Epaulette Shark
And an episode of QI, where I heard about this the first time a while ago.
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