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Gummy Shark
Mustelus antarcticus (Günther, 1870)
Collection Manager, Mark McGrouther, holding the unusual fish. Image © AFP - Torsten Blackwood. View larger image.
The image shows a Gummy Shark that was caught by a commercial fisher A. Broadhurst, off Montague Island, New South Wales in March 1998.
The dark-blotched pattern is an extremely rare colour form that is found in several different families of sharks, according to Dr. J. Stevens, CSIRO, Hobart. Gummy sharks are normally grey above and silvery-white below.
The specimen caused significant media interest, with photographers and reporters from several different sources documenting the story.
Gummy Sharks grow to a length of 1.75 m.
The Gummy Shark's diet includes mostly cephalopods and crustaceans, and occasionally bony fishes.
The common name results from the teeth, which are arranged in a pavement-like pattern.
This species has also been called 'Sweet William'. Whitley (1940) stated that "The name "Sweet William", sometimes applied to the Gummy Shark, has been borrowed from a sobriquet for an English shark, the Tope, of which Pennant wrote, many years ago:- "It's skin and flesh has an offensive rank smell; therefore we suppose Mr Dale gave it ironically the title of Sweet William".
Related links
- View an albino Brier Shark
- View an image of the Gummy Shark's head
- View the Sharks list
Further Reading
- Last, P.R. & J.D. Stevens, 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. CSIRO Australia. Pp. 513. Pl. 1-84.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia. Crawford House Press. Pp. 437.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Stevens, JD in Gomon, M.F, J.C.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Whitley, G.P. 1940. The fishes of Australia. Part I. The sharks, rays, devil-fish, and other primitive fishes of Australia and New Zealand. Royal Zoological Society N.S.W., Australian Zoological Handbook 1-280.
