Spotted wobbegong (Orectolobus maculatus)

Description

What’s the World’s Favourite Species?

Spotted wobbegong fact file

• Description
• Biology
• Range
• Habitat
• Status
• Threats
• Conservation
• Find out more
• Glossary
• References
• Print factsheet

Spotted wobbegong description

With its broad and flattened body, and cryptic colouration, the spotted wobbegong is perfectly adapted to a life on the seabed. It has yellowish-green or brown skin on its back, patterned with white ‘O’ shaped markings and dark blotches, and darker saddle-stripes. Fleshy projections (nasal barbels) used to taste and feel, hang down by the nostrils, and six to ten dermal lobes, or tassels of skin, hang below and in front of the eyes on each side of head ^{(2) (3)}. Despite its unthreatening appearance, the spotted wobbegong is capable of inflicting powerful bites if provoked ⁽²⁾.

Also known as

carpet shark, wobbegong.

Synonyms

Squalus appendiculatus, Squalus barbatus, Squalus lobatus.

Size

Length: up to 320 cm ⁽²⁾

Spotted wobbegong biology

The sluggish spotted wobbegong spends much of its day lying motionless on the bottom or hidden in caves, under overhangs or in shipwrecks. At night, the shark becomes more active, and swims, or moves about the sea floor, searching for prey to slowly sneak up on ⁽²⁾. Bottom-dwelling animals such as reef fishes, octopuses, crabs and rock lobsters are some of their preferred foods ⁽⁴⁾, many of which blunder unwittingly towards the mouth of the camouflaged wobbegong. By opening its wide mouth and expanding its throat, the wobbegong can effectively suck in its prey, trapping and killing it with its powerful jaws and big teeth. After a night spent hunting, the spotted wobbegong, which is observed singly or in aggregations, often returns to the same resting site ⁽²⁾. The nocturnal spotted wobbegong is an ovoviviparous shark, thus the embryos develop inside eggs that remain inside the mother until they hatch. Females give birth to large litters, usually of around 20 pups, but up to 37 pups have been recorded ⁽⁵⁾.

Spotted wobbegong range

Occurs in the western Pacific, off the south coast of Australia. There are also records from Japan and the South China Sea but these require confirmation ⁽²⁾.

See this species on Google Earth.

Spotted wobbegong habitat

The spotted wobbegong inhabits temperate to tropical waters, from the intertidal zone down to depths of at least 110 meters. It is most common on algae-covered rocky reefs, but also occurs over coral reefs, sandy expanses and seagrass beds. It can be found in coastal bays, estuaries, under piers, and even in tidepools, where it has been observed climbing over rocks between tidepools with its back out of the water. Juveniles occur on low reefs, in seagrass beds, and in estuaries ^{(2) (4)}.

Spotted wobbegong status

Classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List ⁽¹⁾.

Spotted wobbegong threats

Wobbegong sharks are commonly caught in commercial and recreational fisheries, both as a target species and as by-catch ⁽⁵⁾. Its flesh is now highly regarded as food, and the attractively patterned skin has been used as decorative leather ⁽⁵⁾, although is not currently targeted for this purpose ⁽¹⁾. As a result of these fisheries, numbers of the spotted wobbegong have declined significantly in New South Wales. Combined with the closely related banded wobbegong (Orectolobus ornatus), catches declined by over 60 percent between 1990 and 2000 ⁽⁵⁾. Whilst catches in southern and western Australia appear to be low and stable, the impact of fisheries on the east coast population indicate how vulnerable this species is to over-exploitation ⁽⁵⁾. The spotted wobbegong may also be threatened by habitat degradation, as estuaries and seagrass beds may be important nursery areas for this species ⁽⁴⁾, which could be impacted by coastal developments and pollution.

Spotted wobbegong conservation

The spotted wobbegong is assessed as Vulnerable in New South Wales, Australia, however no management plan is yet in place for this population, and there are apparently no specific conservation measures in place in any of the Australian states ⁽⁵⁾. It may gain some level of protection from the protected areas being designated for grey nurse sharks in New South Wales, and it occurs in several Marine Protected Areas throughout its range ⁽⁵⁾. An in-possession limit of two wobbegong sharks per person was recently introduced for recreational fisheries, and it is hoped that this may help lessen the impact of recreational fishing practices ⁽⁴⁾. It has been suggested that further information on the biology, ecology and status of the species is required to enable the development of suitable management policies ^{(4) (5)}.

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Find out more

To learn more about shark conservation visit:

• Save Our Seas Foundation:
  www.saveourseas.com
• The Shark Trust:
  www.sharktrust.org
• Project Aware:
  www.projectaware.org

Authentication

Glossary

By-catch

In the fishing industry, the part of the catch made up of non-target species.

Nocturnal

Active at night.

References

1. IUCN Red List (June, 2007)
   http://www.iucnredlist.org
2. Compagno, L.J.V. (1984) FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4: Sharks of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 1: Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
3. Ferrari, A. and Ferrari, A. (2002) Sharks. Firefly Books Ltd, Toronto, Canada.
4. Pogonoski, J.J., Pollard, D.A. and Paxton, J.R. (2002) Conservation Overview and Action Plan for Australian Threatened and Potentially Threatened Marine and Estuarine Fishes. Environment of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
5. Cavanagh, R.D., Kyne, P.M., Fowler, S.L., Musick, J.A. and Bennett, M.B. (2003) The Conservation Status of Australian Chondrichthyans: Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Australia and Oceania Regional Red List Workshop. The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, Brisbane, Australia.