Bullhead

About this species

The Port Jackson shark is a nocturnal, oviparous type of bullhead shark of the family Heterodontidae, found in the coastal region of southern Australia, including the waters off Port Jackson. It has a large, blunt head with prominent forehead ridges and dark brown harness-like markings on a lighter grey-brown body, and can grow up to 1.65 metres (5.5 ft) long. They are the largest in the genus Heterodontus.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Port Jackson shark”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 931 records
February: 857 records
March: 930 records
April: 883 records
May: 800 records
June: 1,507 records
July: 4,800 records
August: 7,018 records
September: 6,779 records
October: 4,216 records
November: 1,265 records
December: 1,083 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–50 m · Deepest record: 645.5 m

0–10 m: 2,646 records
10–20 m: 895 records
20–30 m: 4,482 records
30–40 m: 419 records
40–50 m: 172 records
50–60 m: 169 records
60–70 m: 337 records
70–80 m: 189 records
80–90 m: 87 records
90–100 m: 33 records
100–110 m: 14 records
110+ m: 150 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–21 °C

12–14 °C: 2 records
14–16 °C: 6 records
16–18 °C: 3 records
18–20 °C: 676 records
20–22 °C: 200 records

Photos

(c) Josh Nitschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lek Khauv, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kai Squires, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Peter Crowcroft, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Bullhead, Bullhead shark, Oyster crusher, Oyster-crusher, Pigfish, Port Jackson shark, bullhead, bullhead shark, Common Port Jackson Shark, Dogshark, Horn Shark, oyster crusher, oyster-crusher, pigfish, PJ, Tabbigaw

Names in 4 more languages

German: Port-Jackson-Stierkopfhai
Spanish: dormilón toro
French: Heterodontus portusjacksoni, Requin de Port Jackson, requin dormeur taureau
Japanese: ポートジャクソンネコザメ

Other scientific names: Cestracion heterodontus, Cestracion philippi, Cestracion philippii, Heterodontus bonaespei, Heterodontus philippi, Squalus jacksoni, Squalus jacksonii, Squalus philippi, Squalus philippinus, Squalus portusjacksoni

Similar species

Crested bullhead shark
Heterodontus galeatus
Bull head
Heterodontus japonicus
Heterodontus marshallae
Mozambique bullhead shark
Heterodontus ramalheira
Barred bull-head shark
Heterodontus zebra

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
42,229 open-data records from 1826 to 2024.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.