Cephaloscyllium isabella, Draughtsboard shark

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Cephaloscyllium isabella (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Draughtsboard shark
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Cephaloscyllium isabella
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New Zealand territory information

Common names: Carpet shark, Pekapeka
Occurrence: endemic
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Endemic to the country (Ref. 125614). Recorded in the trawl survey in Chathams Island (Ref. 45493). Recorded from bottom trawls off the east coast of South Island (Ref. 58461). Common around Stewart Island (Ref. 12951). One carpet shark has been reported to have been taken as a non-target species by a game fisher (Ref. 26346). Voucher specimen(s) held at the NMNZ (Ref. 5755). Also Ref. 244, 89277.
National Checklist:
Territory Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/nz.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.fish.govt.nz/
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Cox, G. and M. Francis, 1997
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Holbiche damier, Pejegato ajedrezado, قِرش ضامة, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks) > Scyliorhinidae (Cat sharks) > Scyliorhininae
Etymology: Cephaloscyllium: cephalus, from kephale (Gr.), head, referring to its very broad and depressed head; skylion, Greek for dogfish or small shark (See ETYFish); isabella: Based on “d’Isabelle” of Broussonet (1780), who said the shark’s color inspired the name; probably derived from isabelline, a pale cream-brown parchment color, consistent with Broussonet’s description of “roux cendré” (i.e., fawn, tan or ashy brown) [often incorrectly spelled as an adjective, isabellum] (See ETYFish).
More on author: Bonnaterre.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 5 - 690 m (Ref. 26346). Subtropical; 33°S - 53°S, 165°E - 174°W

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Southwest Pacific: endemic to New Zealand.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26346)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in crevices and caves of rocky reefs during the day, but may move to adjacent sandy areas at night (Ref. 12951). Reported from 18 m to 220 m depth (Ref. 12951). Feeds on fishes and invertebrates (Ref. 12951). Adults segregate by sex (Ref. 12951). Oviparous (Ref. 50449). 244 cm record from New Zealand possibly due to confusion with another species (Ref. 244). Can expand itself with air or water (Ref. 244).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Oviparous, paired eggs are laid. Embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449). Deposits two tendril eggcases at a time. Young hatch at 16 cm (Ref. 12951).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Compagno, Leonard J.V. | Collaborators

Compagno, L.J.V., 1984. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 244)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 21 June 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Territories
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genome
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures
References
References

Tools

E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.9 - 14.9, mean 11.8 °C (based on 80 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00263 (0.00138 - 0.00502), b=3.21 (3.04 - 3.38), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.2   ±0.5 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec assumed to be <100).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (60 of 100). 🛈
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 5.97 [1.23, 31.31] mg/100g; Iron = 0.378 [0.099, 1.091] mg/100g; Protein = 19 [16, 22] %; Omega3 = 0.132 [0.054, 0.303] g/100g; Selenium = 19.6 [5.8, 59.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 51.1 [17.4, 155.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.465 [0.217, 0.974] mg/100g (wet weight);