Dark Shyshark

About the Dark Shyshark

Dark Shysharks are endemic to Namibia and South Africa in the southeast Atlantic Ocean in shallow waters. 

Biology and Behaviour

They have a broad head with a stout body.

Dark shysharks have an elongated torpedo-shaped body coloured yellow-brown with seven dark saddles and dark and few white spots without any margins. It has cat-like eyes with nictitating lower eyelids as with many other catsharks. They have a broad depressed head and a rounded snout and.

They prefer shallow, sandy bottoms near kelp forests and rocky inshore reefs where it can hunt crustaceans a cephalopods.

When dark shysharks are threatened, they will curl into a loop to hide their face behind their tail.

Reproduction and Lifespan

Dark shysharks are oviparous. Females lay two eggs at a time with gestation period between six to ten months. Young dark shysharks are 10.2 to 11.7 cm long at birth. Around the age of 15, males mature between 40 to 57 cm long, while females mature at 35.9 – 59.7 cm in length.The maximum length they can grow up to is 60 cm long. They can live up to 25 years.

Conservation and Tourism

The IUCN lists dark shysharks as least concern and there are no conservation measures currently in place for this species.

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Dark Shyshark Gallery