Grey bamboo shark

© Citron

​This next shark up at The Fins United Initiative goes by a LOT of names. See if you recognize any of them: Banded Dogfish, Black-banded Cat Shark, Brown-banded Bamboo Shark, Cat Shark, Grey Catshark, Hasselt's Bamboo Shark, Longtail Carpet Shark, Ridge-back Bamboo Shark, White-spotted Bamboo Shark.
​
Nope? Well how about the grey bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium griseum). Ding, ding, ding! We’ve got a winner.

They are found both alone and also chilling with their mates under rocks during the daytime, being nocturnal hunters in the shallow waters they call home. #Finfact: they get up to 100 meters in depth! Observed in estuaries, coral and rocky reefs, they feed on a variety of invertebrates here. Widespread in the Indo-West Pacific, they are a small shark reaching up to 77 cm in length.
​
Like other species of sharks, it is likely to be threatened by overfishing, destructive fishing practices and habitat destruction (e.g. coral reefs). The overall status of this small inshore species is poorly known and is regularly taken in fisheries off Pakistan, India and Thailand, therefore it has been assessed by the IUCN as Near Threatened (NT).

​WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THIS ANIMAL?

GLOSSARY

• IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature.

SAY HELLO!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

BIGFIN CATSHARK

BRANCO RIVER STINGRAY

BANDED HOUNDSHARK