Sharks portal

The whitespotted bamboo shark, Chiloscyllium plagiosum, is a carpet shark with an adult size that approaches one metre in length ^[1] This small, mostly nocturnal species is harmless to humans. The whitespotted bamboo shark is occasionally kept as a pet in larger home aquariums. It can grow up to 93 centimetres (37 in) long.^[2]

Features

Dorsal fins with convex posterior margins. Color pattern of white and dark spots, with dark bands and a brown body. The coloration is unique in this family making it very simple for identification.^[3] 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.^[4]

Distribution

These sharks are found on coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean. They are common in the coastal areas of Indonesia and surrounding waters, but the species' range extends from Japan to India ^[5] These sharks are also used for human consumption in Madagascar ^[3] and Taiwan.^[6]

Feeding

These sharks feed at night, preying on small fish and invertebrates. 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. ^[7][8]

Reproduction

Whitespotted bamboo sharks are oviparous (egg laying). The eggs are approximately five inches long^[9] and hatch after 14 or 15 weeks.^[9][10] The young hatch out at approximately 6 inches in length.^[11] Doug Sweet, curator of fishes at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit reports that in July 2002 a clutch of eggs from a female whitespotted bamboo shark hatched without any apparent fertilization^[10] This appears to be the first reported example of parthenogenesis in this species.

Virgin Birth

A female Chiloscyllium plagiosum that had no contact with a male for 6 years, gave birth to 3 young at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan. There are many theories for this miraculous incident but non confirmed. 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 parthenogenesis.^[12]

Albino mutations

Three albino whitespotted bamboo sharks have hatched at SeaWorld of Orlando^[13]

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.^[7] Because of this, they can be purchased from many sources.^[14][15] Adult specimens will require tanks of at least 180 gallons, and preferably more.^[16] Captive specimens may be fed chunks of squid, shrimp, clams, scallops and marine fish, as well as live ghost shrimp.^[11]

See also

• List of sharks
• Carpet shark

References

General references

• Kyne & Burgess (2005). Chiloscyllium plagiosum. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is near threatened
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2005). "Chiloscyllium plagiosum" in FishBase. 10 2005 version.
• "Chiloscyllium plagiosum". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=159942. Retrieved 25 January 2006.