The Blue-gray carpet shark - a rare look

[alprazo]

I purchased my first pair for LA DD - sold as Blind sharks from Australia. They arrived around eight inches.

As I understand it, 3 pairs came into the US. One pair went to Canada and two to LA DD.

About a year later, another 4 came into the US. I purchased an additional pair from the wholesaler and the other I believe went to HOF in CT.

The second DD pair went to someone here on RC. The female died and he sold a male to me about a year ago when he left the hobby. The male from the HOF pair showed up on EBAY some time ago at a cost of $2200, labelled as a blind shark. I am not sure what happened to that male or the female.

The initial sharks looked great but had a lot of problems after arrival. They were infected with a parasitic copepod. It took month to diagnoses and a secondary infection cost me my initial female. The pair that went to Canada had similar initial issues but both survived.

Here is a vid of them early on.

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[alprazo]

After observing these sharks for a while, I began to believe that the sharks were incorrectly identified. I first reached out to people stateside. Bob Fenner believed them to be blind sharks and I never heard back from Scott Michael.

About a year later I decided to ask the Australian experts and was able to confirm by both Peter Last of CSIRO - who published Sharks and Ray of Australia and Jeff Johnson the collection manager of ichthyology at the Queensland Museum that they were indeed Colcloughs sharks.

The IUCN lists that less than 20 of these species has been recorded. ICUN red list (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/39335/0)Obviously there are more, but they are clearly uncommon and an unusual import into the States.

Since there collection, I understand that the collector, a lobster fisherman in NSW, left Australia. The importer has also left the business and this country. so it is unlikely that more will follow.

[alprazo]

I currently have 3 males and 1 female. Two of the males are ~ 24 inches. The 3rd male that I obtained last year is smaller. The only female has grown at a slower pace, is timid, and remains skinny but is over 20 inches now. These are live birthers, ovoviviparous to be exact and different than most small carpet sharks that drop eggs.

The hope is that one day pups will be born in the US or Canada. This is a small, gentle and adaptable shark that appears to do well in the home aquarium. It is not likely a species that one is likely to see outside of Australia so I thought I would share a video and tell the history.

Here are two of them today.

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[Daniel62]

Very cool, Thanks for sharing :)

[Dmorty217]

Thanks for sharing Carmen.

[griseum]

Glad to see these up here! Really special sharks.

[caribfan]

Awesome story, love the pattern, similar to port Jackson. Thanks for sharing, good luck and continued success.

[krj-1168]

Awesome.

I knew that they were very uncommon, but I never realized that they were that rare in captivity.

[ichthyogeek]

If less than 20 of these sharks have been recorded, wouldn't there be a problem with keeping them, since they're so rare? What's their scientific name? What's their max size? What do they eat? Those sharks are amazing! Are you planning on breeding them? How do you intend to keep all the male sharks from ganging up on the female during breeding season?

[Maritimer]

Those are sweet little sharks!

I'm fascinated by their big round fins - especially the pelvics.

Hope to hear that the female's gravid, or has dropped a few pups sometime in the future!

Was in HOF a couple of weeks ago, and they had a young Port Jackson there . . . along with a passel of brown-banded bamboo sharks.

~Bruce

[krj-1168]

If less than 20 of these sharks have been recorded, wouldn't there be a problem with keeping them, since they're so rare?

There has been at only 50 known recorded reports of this species in southern Queensland-northern NSW waters. Present Wild population estimates are less than 10,000 adults. So yes that would present problems for private aquarists being able to keep them - since they are very very Rare.

What's their scientific name?
The Scientific Name is - Brachaelurus colcloughi
Common Name is - Bluegray Carpetshark.
AKA - Colclough's Shark, or Bluegrey Carpetshark


What's their max size?
The Maximum Size (based on the largest known specimen) is about 85 cm/ 33.5 inches.

What do they eat?
Most likely a diet similar to other carpet sharks - in other words mainly marine invertebrates, & smaller fishes.

[Reef Ruler]

Those are sweet little sharks!

I'm fascinated by their big round fins - especially the pelvics.

Hope to hear that the female's gravid, or has dropped a few pups sometime in the future!

Was in HOF a couple of weeks ago, and they had a young Port Jackson there . . . along with a passel of brown-banded bamboo sharks.

~Bruce

Not to de rail this thread but I was in HOF a week ago and looking at the same port jackson shark lol. Not that I would get it, but still, that's the first port jackson I've seen there.

OP, awesome sharks!

[alprazo]

If less than 20 of these sharks have been recorded, wouldn't there be a problem with keeping them, since they're so rare? What's their scientific name?

Interesting questions. Since my acquisition of these guys, things have changed a lot. The genus was Hemiscyllium. The recorded number has increased more than two fold and I believe the Red list status was changed. These were data deficient if my recollection is correct. though vulnerable now, they are not protected so export is probably still allowed. these were brought in by error anyway and As I mentioned before, the
Collector has left Australia and the importer has left the US. Actually I see almost nothing coming in from NSW anymore. Maybe the stuff is headed to Japan. We in the US tend not to keep fish from subtropical temps. These guys however seem to do fine anywhere from 55f to 82f. I have seen no issues since the beginning. Getting back to my point, I doubt any will be finding their way to the North American shores in the near future. Which is good for species survival. I hope to develop a breeding population but only time will tell. Anyway, the mistake has provided me a pretty cool look at and experience with a very uncommon creature. I'm happy to hear that others here have taken the time to view and learn.

As for eating, they are pigs and will engulf so much food that they must hold it in their mouths because their stomachs become full. Typically mine eat mullet or menhaden, but will eat anything you feed them. I have never housed them with fish because of fear of disease or injury so I don't know what type of tank mates they will make. IMO mixing sharks and fish is a bad idea. The 3000 gallon they are in seems to provide ample room. I have been bitten by them and the teeth are less abrasive than an epaulette. Like most benthic sharks, they are more active at night.

[Naraku]

Those are very nice looking

How did you treat the copepod infection? Thanks.

.

[alprazo]

Dimilin is what finally worked.

[alprazo]

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y456/sharkvenom/6129756F-82FD-4148-AA0E-92580402B5E7_zpsxm8gumlg.jpg (http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/sharkvenom/media/6129756F-82FD-4148-AA0E-92580402B5E7_zpsxm8gumlg.jpg.html)

[natedogg]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing!

[solidcore]

that's pretty kewl

[JaihWill]

Absolutely freaking amazing.

[travis9791]

That's awesome. What size tank do you have them in.

[alprazo]

~3000 gal

[kangadrew]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Never knew they were this rare. Have you seen any signs of them wanting to breed yet?

[alprazo]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Never knew they were this rare. Have you seen any signs of them wanting to breed yet?

Not yet

[TNTtropical]

great post, thanks for sharing!

[Tristanfowlr]

Hi @alprazo

Thanks for the write up great to get more insight from you especially seeing them at their juvenile phase. I live in the same area that these sharks naturally occur and while they are hard to find as they sleep in groups in large crevices, I don't believe they are as rare as initially thought. I have talked to two different collectors now that are able to collect them for me. Cant wait to get mine :)

[alprazo]

Yes, they estimate the wild population at about 10,000 and restricted to a very small near shore area. That is why they may seem plentiful to your collectors. They are the perfect shark for a captive breeding population vs wide collection. Small, rare, hardy, short time -5 years is my guess , to maturity.

They are live bearers however so the production yield will likely be low reducing profitability vs an egg laying shark.

I contacted the curator of the animal collection of our Smithsonian Instutute and as I expected they were very excited when I offered them my dead specimen They did not have one in the US collection. They do now.

Definitely post picks when you get them.

[alprazo]

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y456/sharkvenom/FA2EAE34-474B-414E-A7CE-CA4D96F48B0F_zpsdakqubuf.jpg (http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/sharkvenom/media/FA2EAE34-474B-414E-A7CE-CA4D96F48B0F_zpsdakqubuf.jpg.html)

[alprazo]

What little know facts about the species are published here -

http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=MF10160.pdf

[alprazo]

The first evidence of mating occurred about 6 weeks ago. The female had a mangled pectoral fin with multiple bite marks. I also noticed that one of the males scuffed his rostrum that same day. Only time will tell if it was a successful attempt. I've noticed no additional damage to her since.

[E.intheC]

Very cool looking sharks, and neat background story. Do you have additional pics since the last one posted in March?

[LadAShark]

The first evidence of mating occurred about 6 weeks ago. The female had a mangled pectoral fin with multiple bite marks. I also noticed that one of the males scuffed his rostrum that same day. Only time will tell if it was a successful attempt. I've noticed no additional damage to her since.

What do you intend to do with them going forward? Become one of the few breeders who produce them? Sounds like fun :P

While I think breeding these guys and releasing them to the wild outright is a bad idea, it would be interesting to see some breeding efforts (involving more gene mixing, however) pay off. Because I don't think a wild population of 10,000 should prevent a captive bred population from being available.

Do give us an update on what has happened so far

[alprazo]

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EIsMmWDqmqA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[BigBlueTang]

So. COOL!

[Rilelen]

So excited to see this update! Whatever happened with the mating attempts - did you ever get offspring?

[alprazo]

I guess nothing. The mating attempts went on for about 3 weeks and then stopped. Disappointing.

[humaguy]

killer video! hope they start up again...

[krj-1168]

Awesome video - that tank - has 2 different species of Epaulettes, Zebra Bullhead sharks, and 4 Blue-gray Carpet sharks.

[alprazo]

I grabbed my camera to catch the very end of a mating attempt. Two that I have witnessed in the past week. Both appeared to be failed attempts.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/URFQw995Awc?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://youtu.be/URFQw995Awc

[barrysalt]

Alprazo--sent you a p.m.--just a reminder...thanks