The brownbanded bamboo shark (''Chiloscyllium punctatum''), is a bamboo shark in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Hemiscylliidae that can be found in the

Indo-West Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the s ...

from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, between

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

s 34° N and 26° S. It is regularly bred in public aquaria, and is arguably one of the sharks most suited to captivity due to its docile disposition, sedentary nature, and relatively small size. In public aquariums, these fish can live up to 25 years.

Features

These sharks can be distinguished by their concave posterior margined dorsal fin. No color patterns are present for the adults, however, the juveniles have dark transverse bands with some dark spots. It can grow up to . It is a nocturnal animal and can survive out of the water for up to 12 hrs. They have

barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whisker like sensory organ near the mouth (sometimes called whiskers or tendrils). Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the z ...

that resemble feline whiskers, hence the common name "cat shark". Despite this moniker, they are not true members of the catshark family, and are more closely related to the

nurse shark The nurse shark (''Ginglymostoma cirratum'') is an Elasmobranchii, elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae. The conservation status of the nurse shark is globally assessed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, IUCN L ...

s, wobbegongs, epaulette sharks and

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter feeder, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known Extant taxon, extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of . The whale shark holds many records for ...

s, belonging to the family

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

Habitat

These sharks live around

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 group ...

s and

tide pool A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. These pools typically range from a few inches to a few feet deep and a few feet across. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only ...

s. It resides at depths down to .

Sharks as pets

The minimum size of the tank that can carry an adult cat shark is about 180 gallons. Because these sharks are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, they will need some type of shaded area within the tank where the shark could hide. Although these sharks do not swim around too much, it is highly suggested that the items within the tank should be stable; brownbanded bamboo sharks are very strong and will knock down anything that is not stable inside the tank. Also this shark should not be placed with triggers and puffers; they will nip at the shark's fins, nor should they be placed with aggressive feeders.

Reproduction

It reproduces oviparously.

Feeding

These sharks are carnivores that should be fed 2–3 times a week; some of their diet includes fresh

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

scallop Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve molluscs in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related famili ...

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

, and marine fishes. In order to prevent

goiter A goitre (British English), or goiter (American English), is a swelling in the neck resulting from an enlarged thyroid gland. A goitre can be associated with a thyroid that is not functioning properly. Worldwide, over 90% of goitre cases are ca ...

disease, they should take iodine supplements. Two things to be aware of when feeding the shark: one is to make sure that the meals are bite sized or else it will throw it back up and the second is sometimes juveniles are difficult to get to eat so adding a flavor enhances their interest .

DNA

In 2018, a group led by Shigehiro Kuraku published a draft assembly of the

genome sequence A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

of the brown-banded bamboo shark in the journal ''

Nature Ecology & Evolution ''Nature Ecology and Evolution'' is an online-only monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio covering all aspects of research on ecology and evolutionary biology. It was established in 2017. Its first editor-in-chief w ...

''. In this study, the brown-banded bamboo shark genome was sequenced and assembled using

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

samples provided by a Japanese aquarium, Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. It was sequenced using Illumina sequencing technology and assembled using a short read genome assembler. According to their analysis, the genome size is estimated to be 4.7 giga base-pairs. The slow molecular evolutionary rate of elasmobranchs (sharks, rays and skates) has been reported repeatedly. Despite such slow evolutionary nature, it was once reported that elasmobranchs probably lost HoxC cluster, one of the four

Hox gene Hox genes, a subset of homeobox, homeobox genes, are a gene cluster, group of related genes that Evolutionary developmental biology, specify regions of the body plan of an embryo along the craniocaudal axis, head-tail axis of animals. Hox protein ...

clusters. However, the genome sequence of the brown-banded bamboo shark revealed the existence of several Hoxc genes.

Threats

Its minimum population doubling is in the 4.5–14 years range.Unknown
"Cat shark – ''Chiloscyllium punctatum''"
Aquatic community. N.p., 2008. Web. 27 April 2010. The major threats to these sharks are the loss of their habitat, pollution, and capture (both for aquarium trade as well as food).

In popular culture

The main protagonist of the 2012 Malaysian animated feature film '' SeeFood'' is a talking, sentient young brownbanded bamboo shark named Pup, whose ability to breathe on land plays a major role in the plot.

References

* * Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, ''Sharks of the World'', Princeton University Press, New Jersey 2005
Bamboo Shark Hatched at Australia's Melbourne Aquarium via In-Vitro Fertilization
FishChannel.com {{Taxonbar, from=Q29227 brownbanded bamboo shark Fauna of India Marine fauna of East Asia Marine fish of Southeast Asia Fish of New Guinea brownbanded bamboo shark