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Swellsharks
Cephaloscyllium
Cephaloscyllium is a genus of catsharks, and part of the family Scyliorhinidae, commonly known as swellsharks because of their ability to inflate their bodies with water or air as a defense against predators. These sluggish, bottom-dwelling sharks are found widely in the tropical and temperate coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They have stocky, spindle-shaped bodies and short, broad, and flattened heads. The mouth is capacious, containing many small teeth and lacking furrows at...
17 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 17 known species
Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium ventriosum
New Zealand Draughtboard Shark
speciesCephaloscyllium isabella
Draughtboard Shark
speciesCephaloscyllium laticeps
Japanese Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium umbratile
Sarawak Pygmy Swell Shark
speciesCephaloscyllium sarawakense
Formosa Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium formosanum
Saddled Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium variegatum
Balloon Shark
speciesCephaloscyllium sufflans
Indian Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium silasi
Painted Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium pictum
Whitefin Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium albipinnum
Cook's Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium cooki
Speckled Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium speccum
Australian Reticulate Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium hiscosellum
Narrowbar Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium zebrum
Stevens' Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium stevensi
Flagtail Swellshark
speciesCephaloscyllium signourum
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Cephaloscyllium in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 59224.