Cobbler Carpet Shark

fieldmarks: A rather slender wobbegong, less flattened than most; with a few slender dermal lobes on sides of head, simple, unbranched nasal barbels, symphysial groove on chin; conspicuous warty tubercles in rows on the dorsal surface of the body and dorsal fin bases; dorsal fins very low and long, with heights half their base lengths, first dorsal-fin origin in front of pelvic-fin midbases; striking variegated colour pattern of broad dark, dorsal saddles with jagged, corrugated edges, interspaced with light areas with irregular dark spots; also, mouth in front of eyes, nasoral grooves and circumnarial grooves present, two rows of enlarged fang-like teeth in upper jaw and three in lower jaw. Head rather narrow, its greatest width slightly less than distance from snout tip to first gill openings. Chin smooth, without a beard of dermal lobes. Dermal lobes of sides and front of head small, short, unbranched, and forming isolated groups that are broadly separated from one another, in 4 to 6 pairs. Nasal barbels simple and unbranched. Mouth narrow, width about 9% of total length. Dorsal surface of head, body and precaudal tail, and dorsal-fin bases, with rows of large, conspicuous dermal tubercles, resembling warts. Trunk moderately broad, width across pectoral-fin insertions considerably less than head length. Precaudal tail rather long, distance from pelvic-fin insertion to lower caudal-fin origin much greater than head length. Pectoral and pelvic fins small and widely spaced from each other, distance from pectoral-fin insertions to pelvic-fin origins about twice length of pectoral-fin bases and somewhat greater than pelvic-fin lengths from origins to free rear tips. Interspace between first and second dorsal fins much shorter than first dorsal-fin inner margin and less than a fifth of first dorsal-fin base. Dorsal fins low and long, height of first dorsal fin about half its base length, length of first dorsal-fin base greater than pelvic-fin length from origin to free rear tip. Origin of first dorsal fin in front of midbases of pelvic fins. Dorsal surface with a colour pattern of jagged-edged broad dark saddles and scattered dark spots on a light background, no reticulating narrow lines with spots at their junctions.

Western South Pacific: Confined to Australian waters (west coast of temperate Western Australia from Houtman Abrolhos southeast to Adelaide, South Australia).

Maximum recorded 92 cm. Size at birth about 22 cm; near full-term young, still with sizeable yolk sacs, were 18 cm long. Males mature at about 65 cm. Said to grow as large as the spotted wobbegong (Orectolobus maculatus) according to Stead (1963), but possibly by confusion with Orectolobus ornatus or some other large wobbegong.

A little-known but probably common inshore bottom shark of temperate continental waters, on rocky and coral reefs, and in seaweeds.Depths not recorded. Biology almost unknown.. Presumably ovoviviparous. Preying on bottom invertebrates and fishes.

Interest to fisheries none at present. Conservation Status : Conservation status uncertain but needs to be monitored because of its limited range.

Ovoviviparous, embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449).

Found inshore on the continental shelf (Ref. 6871). Frequents rocky and coral reef areas. Biology almost unknown. Ovoviviparous (Ref. 6871). May possibly grow to 200 or 300 cm TL.

fisheries: of no interest

The cobbler wobbegong, Sutorectus tentaculatus, is a carpet shark in the family Orectolobidae, the only member of the genus Sutorectus. It is found in the subtropical eastern Indian Ocean around Western Australia between latitudes 26° S and 35° S. It is frequently found in rocky and coral reef areas. Cobbler wobbegongs reach a length of 92 cm. It has unbranched dermal lobes on the head, rows of warty tubercles along the back and black spots on the body and fins.

Its reproduction is ovoviviparous.