Brownbanded bamboo shark
Chiloscyllium punctatum
Indonesian Speckled Carpetshark
Hemiscyllium freycineti
About
The Indonesian speckled carpetshark is a small shark that lives on the seabed. It grows up to about 72 cm and is found only around the Raja Ampat Islands of West Papua, Indonesia. It hides in reef cracks by day and comes out to hunt at night.
Also known as: freycinet's shark, indonesia speckled carpetshark
- Length
- 72 cm
- Depth
- up to 12 m
How to tell it apart
This species is easily confused with a very similar shark, Hemiscyllium michaeli, from Papua New Guinea. That shark has bigger, bolder, leopard-like spots. On this species, the spot behind the side fin, the pectoral fin, stays small and faint, rather than forming a clear, bold mark.
Appearance
Its body is covered in small, round or slightly long dark spots. These spots darken at regular gaps along the body and tail, forming 8-9 faint up-and-down bars. A small, faint dark spot sits behind the gills, and the tail fin has a notch near its tip.
Did you know?
For years this shark was thought to range much more widely than it really does, because it was being confused with a lookalike species, Hemiscyllium michaeli, that was not recognised as separate until 2010.
Log it in Into the Blue
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