The whitespotted bamboo shark (''Chiloscyllium plagiosum'') is a

carpet shark Carpet sharks are sharks classified in the order Orectolobiformes . Sometimes the common name "carpet shark" (named so because many species resemble ornately patterned carpets) is used interchangeably with "wobbegong", which is the common name of ...

with an adult size that approaches one

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

in length. This small, mostly nocturnal species is harmless to humans. The whitespotted bamboo shark is occasionally kept as a pet in larger home aquaria. It can grow up to long.

Description

Dorsal fins with convex posterior margins. Color pattern of purple and pink spots, with dark bands and a white body. The coloration is unique in this family making it very simple for identification. The teeth of bamboo sharks are not strongly differentiated. Each tooth has a medial cusp and weak labial root lobes with 26–35 teeth on the upper jaw and 21–32 teeth on the lower jaw. Bamboo Sharks commonly rest on the bottom of their habitat with their head and trunk propped up by resting on their bent and depressed pectoral fins. Whitespotted bamboo sharks have a very distinct dorsal fin that can alter or effect where they choose to live, as well as their mobility methods.

Distribution

These sharks are found on

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

s of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. They are common in the coastal areas of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and surrounding waters, but the species' range extends from Japan to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. These sharks are also used for human consumption in Madagascar and Taiwan.

Feeding

These sharks feed at night, preying on small fish and

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s. They have small teeth that can be used for grasping or crushing prey. Soft prey is grasped when the tips of the teeth sink into the flesh, but the teeth pivot backwards when biting hard prey. This protects the tooth tip and allows the flattened front surface of the teeth to form a continuous plate for crushing crabs. Juvenile sharks need a higher intake of carbon than adults sharks, especially during the wet seasons. White spotted bamboo sharks have an advantage in finding carbon sources because they are benthic predators (meaning they prey on fish near the sea-bottom), as opposed to pelagic sharks like the spadenose shark. That, combined with the fact that these species of sharks have, like most sharks, electroreceptors ( ampullae of lorenzini) along their snout to help them locate prey that is buried in the sand and mud, makes them very efficient users of detrital carbon resources.

Reproduction

Whitespotted bamboo sharks are oviparous (egg laying). The eggs are approximately five inches long and hatch after 14 or 15 weeks. The young hatch out at approximately 6 inches in length. Doug Sweet, curator of fishes at the Belle Isle Aquarium in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

reported that in July 2002 a clutch of eggs from a female whitespotted bamboo shark hatched without any apparent fertilization. This appears to be the first reported example of

parthenogenesis Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and developmen ...

in this species.

Virgin egg-laying

A female ''Chiloscyllium plagiosum'' that had no contact with a male for 6 years, laid eggs which hatched 3 young at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan. There are many theories for this incident but none are confirmed. The species have been found and collected at

Ternate Island Ternate is a List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera b ...

and

Halmahera Island Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Ha ...

, Indonesia and generally the palearctic region in Asia. Among these theories, the three most likely would be that the female contains both the male and the female reproductive organs; the female has the ability to store sperm for that long; and lastly that the female has somehow stimulated the eggs without sperm, process called

. The offspring kept away from males produced asexually viable offspring.

Albino mutations

Albinism is a very rare occurrence for sharks, and has only occurred on a few occasions. There is no exact statistic, but it is estimated that 1 in 10,000 of this species are born albino. Three

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

whitespotted bamboo sharks have hatched at SeaWorld of Orlando. Downtown Aquarium in Denver Colorado has had annual hatchings of albino whitespotted bamboo sharks since 2007 and they currently have some displayed on exhibit.

As pets

Because of their small size and bottom-dwelling lifestyle, these are one of the more common species of sharks to be kept in home aquariums. They feed and breed readily in captivity. Because of this, they can be purchased from many sources. Adult specimens will require tanks of at least 180 gallons, and preferably more. Captive specimens may be fed chunks of squid, shrimp,

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...

s, scallops and marine fish, as well as live ghost shrimp.

References

;General references * Database entry includes justification for why this species is near threatened * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q28875

whitespotted bamboo shark The whitespotted bamboo shark (''Chiloscyllium plagiosum'') is a carpet shark with an adult size that approaches one metre in length. This small, mostly nocturnal species is harmless to humans. The whitespotted bamboo shark is occasionally kept ...

Marine fauna of South Asia Marine fauna of Southeast Asia Fauna of South China Fish of Madagascar

Whitespotted bamboo shark The whitespotted bamboo shark (''Chiloscyllium plagiosum'') is a carpet shark with an adult size that approaches one metre in length. This small, mostly nocturnal species is harmless to humans. The whitespotted bamboo shark is occasionally kept ...