Shark of the week: Whitespotted smooth-hound

Members of the genus Mustelus or smooth-hounds can be found all around the world. This week’s shark species, the Whitespotted smooth-hound (mustelus palumbes), inhabits the area between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans: off Namibia, South Africa and southern Mozambique. This up to 44 in – 113 cm – long shark lives at the bottom of the…

Shark of the week: Brownbanded bambooshark

Many sharks change their appearance once they mature, but not all of them do so such blatantly. One of them is the zebra shark, another one is the Brownbanded bambooshark (Chilo•scyllium punctatum), also known as Grey carpetshark (which is a different species than their sister species, the grey bamboo shark, and entirely different from the…

Shark of the week: Grey Bamboo shark

The Grey Bamboo shark (Chilo•scyllium griseum) inhabits the Western and Eastern Indian and the Western Central Pacific Oceans. It can be found in shallow coastal waters at depths of 16 to 328 ft – 5 to 100 m – between Pakistan and Thailand including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Malaysia (and maybe off China, Indonesia,…

Shark of the week: Whitespotted Bambooshark

The White•spotted Bambooshark (Chilo•scyllium plagiosum) is another shark species that suffers from the destruction of its habitat – shallow coastal areas in the Indo-West Pacific from India to southern Japan. Findings around Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar are not confirmed, and the member of the genus Chilo•scyllium living around Madagascar could be a distinct sister species…

Shark of the week: Arabian carpetshark

The Arabian carpetshark (Chilo•scyllium arabicum) can be found in the Arabian Seas in coastal waters from the Arabian/Persian Gulf to Pakistan and India and maybe off Oman. This small grey shark is often confused with other members of the genus Chilo•scyllium. Arabian carpetshark by Hamid Bandar Osmany on fishbase.org – CC BY 3.0, Link Despite…

Shark of the week: Burmese bamboo•shark

A rather recent find is the Burmese bamboo•shark (Chilo•scyllium burmensis). This member of the genus Chilo•scyllium inhabits shallow coastal waters up to 98 ft – 30 m – deep off India, Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly Burma). In this area, all sharks and rays are heavily fished. Even if smaller species may benefit from the overfishing…

Shark of the week: Indonesian bamboo•shark

Threatened by overfishing and destruction of their habitat, the numbers of nearly all shark species are declining. That is true for most high seas species, but especially for the members of the genus Chilo•scyllium, since they inhabit coral reefs and other coastal areas in the Indo-Pacific ocean. The Slender bamboo shark is now considered vulnerable,…

Shark of the week: Filetail catshark

Now the next member of the genus Parmaturus: the Filetail catshark (Parmaturus xaniurus) lives in the eastern Pacific Ocean, off Washington all the way down to the Gulf of California in Mexico. This member of the family Pentan•chidae is oviparous. Females use certain nursery areas at depths between 984 and 1,312 ft – 300 and…

Shark of the week: Yang’s Longnose Catshark

The last (for now) shark species belonging to the genus Apristurus (or Ghost or Demon catsharks) is called Yang’s Longnose Catshark (Apristurus yangi). First described in 2017, this member of the longicephalus-group can be found at depths between 2,067 and 2,579 ft – 630 and 786 m – in the Western Central Pacific Ocean, on…

Shark of the week: Garrick’s catshark

The next member of the genus Apristurus (or Ghost or Demon catsharks) is the Garrick’s catshark (Apristurus garricki), named after New Zealand’s ichthyologist Jack Garrick in 2013. It can be found in the Pacific ocean off New Zealand, more specifically off West Norfolk Ridge, around North Cape, and along the east coast of the North…