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A brown-banded bamboo shark resting on a gravel bottom.
Photo: Tony Hisgett, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Brown-Banded Bamboo Shark

Chiloscyllium punctatum

A small, slender shark of shallow Indo-Pacific waters that sucks up food from the sea floor and lays egg cases.

🦈 Sharks and Rays
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About the Brown-Banded Bamboo Shark

Brown-banded bamboo sharks live in coastal waters of the Indo-West Pacific, from India and Southeast Asia to Japan, New Guinea and northern Australia. They grow to about 3 to 4 feet long and live in tide pools, seagrass beds, coral reefs and mangrove bays. They aren't strong swimmers, but they hide well. They eat worms, small crustaceans, little fish and squid.[1]

Quick facts

Scientific name
Chiloscyllium punctatum[1]
Size
About 3 to 4 feet long.[1]
Diet
Worms, small crustaceans, small fish and cephalopods.[1]
Habitat
Tide pools, seagrass beds, inshore coral reefs and mangrove bays.[1]
Where it lives
Indo-West Pacific, from India to Japan and northern Australia.[1]
Babies
Eggs in cases that hatch outside the mother's body.[1]
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN Red List, assessed 2023).[2]

Fun facts

  • Baby bamboo sharks have bold stripes that fade as they grow.[1]
  • They feed by sucking prey off the sea floor.[1]
  • Six females once laid 692 eggs in one year.[1]

Vocabulary

benthic
Living on or near the bottom of the sea.
oviparous
Laying eggs that hatch outside the body.
spiracle
A breathing hole behind a shark's eye.
barbel
A whisker-like feeler near a fish's mouth.
near threatened
A conservation label meaning a species may soon be at risk of dying out if things don't improve.

See it in person

These zoos had this animal when we gathered our information, but animals sometimes move. Check the zoo's website or contact the zoo before you visit.

Sources

  1. [1] Aquarium of the Pacific. “Brown-banded Bamboo Shark.” https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/brown_banded_bamboo_shark (accessed 2026-10-02)
  2. [2] IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. “Chiloscyllium punctatum (Grey Carpetshark).” https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41872/124423551 (accessed 2026-10-02)

Facts last checked 2026-10-02.