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Collared Carpet Sharks. Parascylliidae species.
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page are copyright protected: © 2010 Kelvin Aitken.
All rights reserved. Students may use this information for
personal research only. Not for commercial use.
Collared Carpet Sharks are slender bottom dwelling sharks
with a small mouth, two spineless rear set dorsal fins, both
pelvic and anal fins and usually a distinct pattern of spots.While
superficially similar to Catsharks, Collared's have a mouth
well in front of their eyes and their nostrils are connected
to their mouth with a groove (the oronasal groove) partly
covered by a flap of skin called the internasal flap.
Varied Carpet Shark
Commonly found along the coasts of all southern States of
Australia, the Varied Carpet Shark (Parascyllium variolatum)
is hard to confuse with any other shark because of its distinctive
black 'collar', which is covered in a dense pattern of small
white spots. Scattered across its base grey to brown body
colour are additional white spots and distinct sharply defined
black blotches on the apex of its dorsal fins. It is found
by snorkelers at shallow depths but it also occurs in much
deeper water. It often snoozes in the sheltered crevice of
a rocky reef or twines itself amongst seagrasses.
The Varied Carpet Shark is more active at night, when it forages
among reesf and weeds for worms, crustaceans and molluscs,
the shells of which it crushes in its small mouth. Since it
relies on camouflage, it is easy to approach. When attacked
or handled it thrashes about wildly, twisting with surprising
strength and throwing its small but solid head about like
a club.
The Rusty Carpet Shark (Parascyllium ferrugineum) differs
from the Varied Carpet Shark in its colour pattern. It lacks
the pitch black collar with the dense white spots. Instead
it has a hazy or indistinct collar patch matched by 5 or 6
hazy 'saddles' or broad bands down its body. It has brown
instead of white spots on the body and fins with a base colour
of grey or brown fading into a pale belly. Like the Varied
Carpet Shark the female Rusty Carpet Shark lays small eggs
during winter and early spring with tendrils that attach them
to reef vegetation. Distribution is from the eastern Victorian
border around to Albany in Western Australia. It can be found
in the shallows by snorkelers but is normally encountered
by scuba divers at depths of more than 15 m on densely carpeted
reefs or, at times, on deep seagrass beds. All carpet sharks
are harmless but react violently when handled.
The Collared Carpet Shark (Parascyllium collare) is similar
to the Rusty Carpet Shark but has a distinct dark chocolate
brown to black collar between the eyes and pectoral fins.
The collar is clear of white spots which differenciates it
from the Varied Carpet Shark.
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