Overview

This species belongs to the bamboo and epaulette shark family, a group of small patterned sharks built for life on tropical reef flats. The field-guide feel is gentle and close-to-the-bottom: walking fins, egg cases, and shallow habitat are recurring themes. Hemiscylliids are slim-bodied carpet sharks with a rounded head, strong bottom posture, and bold spots, bands, or ocelli in many species. Bamboo and epaulette sharks are centered in the Indo-Australian region, especially around reefs, lagoons, and seagrass-rich tropical coasts. Several species have small ranges tied to local reef systems.

They are usually shallow benthic sharks of coral reefs, rubble, seagrass beds, mangrove edges, and lagoon flats.

Added from the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).

Why it matters: Epaulette-type sharks can keep moving in very shallow, oxygen-poor water where many fishes would struggle.

Common namehooded carpet shark
Scientific nameHemiscyllium strahani
FamilyHemiscylliidae
OrderOrectolobiformes
Max length0.8 m
Depth range0 to 0 meters
RegionFAO fishing area 71
DietData not available in this offline release.
HabitatMarine waters (habitat data not available locally).
Why it stands outFamily: Hemiscylliidae

What this shark is

Hemiscylliids are slim-bodied carpet sharks with a rounded head, strong bottom posture, and bold spots, bands, or ocelli in many species.

Where it lives

Bamboo and epaulette sharks are centered in the Indo-Australian region, especially around reefs, lagoons, and seagrass-rich tropical coasts. Several species have small ranges tied to local reef systems.

They are usually shallow benthic sharks of coral reefs, rubble, seagrass beds, mangrove edges, and lagoon flats.

How it differs from similar sharks

Family: Hemiscylliidae

Compare it against freckled carpet shark, Hemiscyllium Galei, and Hemiscyllium Halmahera.

Why it is notable

They are gentle, low-risk sharks that are often encountered by divers and aquarists. Local habitat damage and collection pressure can matter more than direct persecution.

Species-level taxonomy was verified from Sharkipedia's current species list and taxonomy workbook. In this pass, the narrative fields are cautious family-level placeholders synthesized from broad shark references, chiefly the FAO Sharks of the World catalogue, because a stronger multi-source species-level synthesis was not assembled here without risking invented detail. Replace this with a direct species-level synthesis before publication in the app.

Related shark pages

These links are meant to help readers continue through related species, not force extra clicks.