Species: Chiloscyllium punctatum, Brownbanded Bamboo Shark, Grey Carpetshark

Chiloscyllium punctatum Müller & Henle, 1838

Brownbanded Bamboo Shark, Grey Carpetshark

Body cylindrical and moderately slender; tail base cylindrical and somewhat longer than head and trunk; lateral ridges on sides of trunk and tail absent; head cylindrical or moderately depressed; 5 small gill slits, last 3 over the pectoral-fin base; spiracles very large, behind and below eyes; nostrils distinctly behind tip of snout, with barbels & grooves, close in front of mouth; eyes high on sides of head, eyes and ridges above them not elevated; snout rounded, moderately long, mouth closer to eyes than to snout tip, mouth small, nearly transverse, and well in front of eyes; lip furrows on both jaws, large, upper furrows extending in front of mouth; teeth similar in both jaws, small, not blade-like, a single cusp and with cusplets small or absent; upper tooth rows 31-33, lower tooth rows 30-33; two dorsal fins, similar size & shape, larger than pelvic fins, with concave rear borders & projecting free rear tips, without spines, the first moderate sized, its origin over front ½ of pelvic-fin bases; anal fin moderately large, but its length < length of lower lobe of tail fin (below the subterminal notch), very low, broad and rounded, origin well behind free rear tip of 2nd dorsal-fin, base separated by a small notch from tail fin; tail fin strongly asymmetrical, << 1/2 TL, without lower lobe, with a strong subterminal notch.

Adult light brown, usually without bars. Juvenile with a dark brown snout and 8 dark brown bars (head, pectoral region, before pelvics, at 1st dorsal, between dorsals, at second dorsal, at beginning and end of anal fin) and last ¾ of tail fin dark brown; body usually with scattered small dark spots.

Reaches 132 cm

Inshore on coral reefs.

Depth range 1-85 m

Natural range is the junction between the Pacific and Indian Oceans; introduced to southeast Florida.

Note: C punctatum is easily confused with the Brown Bambooshark, C griseum, and the Arabian Bambooshark, C arabicum. C punctatum has the 1st dorsal fin larger than the pelvic fins (larger than in C arabicum & smaller than in C griseum); the origin of its first dorsal over the front ½ of the pelvic fin base (over the rear ½ in C griseum, & over/behind the base in C arabicum), and the dorsal fins have concave rear edges (straight to convex in C griseum, straight in C arabicum). C arabicum is the only one of the three with crest along the top of the back between the dorsal fins, and while the juveniles of C punctatum and C griseum have very similar barred color patterns, juveniles of C arabicum are plain colored like adults.