Cat shark or chiloscyllium punctatum

In this part of Aus and a large part of the world there is what is normally termed,bamboo or cat sharks in their waters.

This cute little shark is part of the large group being the whaler shark family and our variations latern name is chiloscyllium punctatum.

This small variety of shark starts its life from what gives the appearance of a seed pod that is laid and attached to anything that will not break off easily at a low tied level of not normally higher than 0.10

They are dispersed around the later parts of the cooler months and up to October as the season for laid eggs here in the south east and can be found in huge abundance in the right sort of areas.

If an egg is found,the water temp in your bucket should be kept constant to where it came from more or less and you should not lift it out of the water as the pod has to remain full of water because it has venting to allow the water to pass in and out of the pod.

If this is taken home the pod should have oxygenated water moving over it at all times to keep it alive and to get a good hatch result.

Once this newly born cat shark has matured enough to move freely it works its way up from just small inverts for foods to oysters and muscles that it crushes with their very strong crusher plates instead of teeth but to us,quite harmless unless you get your fingers in its mouth as it will easily crush human bone.

These sharks are sought after for its flesh as it is part of the school shark flake food supply for the fish and chip shops around the place.

On club trips there are nearly always a few of these sharks taking refuge in the day time with its head under a rock and most of it pertruding out from its hiding spot.

The common size that we see is rougly 2 to 3 feet in length but from time to time we willl see one or two up to and slightly bigger than five feet in length.

These pics are from egg to adult.


Cat shark egg.





Juvenile cat/dog shark.





One of the clubbies having a play with a dog shark.





A dog shark heading off.





A video of a dog shark on one of our trips.