''Hemiscyllium halmahera'', or the Halmahera epaulette shark, is a species of

bamboo shark The Hemiscylliidae are a family of sharks in the order Orectolobiformes, commonly known as longtail carpet sharks and sometimes as bamboo sharks. They are found in shallow waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific. They are relatively small sharks, ...

from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. This species is described from two specimens collected near

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off th ...

island in 2013, off the coast of larger

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. H ...

island. This species is most similar to ''

Hemiscyllium galei ''Hemiscyllium galei'', the Cenderawasih epaulette shark, is a species of bamboo shark in the family Hemiscylliidae. Together with '' H. henryi'', it was only scientifically described in 2008 by Gerald R. Allen and Mark V. Erdmann. At present, ''H ...

'', found in West Papua, but looks strikingly different in its pattern of spots. While ''H. galei'' has seven large, dark spots on each side of its body, ''H. halmahera'' has a brown color with clusters of brown or white spots in

polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...

configurations all over its body. These small sharks are like other bamboo sharks, in that they use their

pectoral fins Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

to "walk" along the ocean floor.

References

External links

* Halmahera epaulette shark Hemiscyllium halmahera Hemiscyllium halmahera Hemiscyllium halmahera Taxa named by Gerald R. Allen Taxa named by Mark van Nydeck Erdmann Taxa named by Christine L. Dudgeon Halmahera epaulette shark {{Shark-stub