Australian Smooth Hound

About this species

The gummy shark, also known as the Australian smooth hound, flake, sweet william or smooth dog-shark, is a species of ground shark in the genus Mustelus of the family Triakidae. These small to medium-sized bottom-dwelling sharks are found mostly in, but are not limited to, the area around the southern seas of Australia and are commonly baited and fished for cuisine because of its taste and market prices. According to a 2021 paper by White, Arunrugstichai & Naylorn (2021), Mustelus walkeri is the same animal as M. antarcticus. One theory is that M. walkeri is a subpopulation of M. antarcticus.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Gummy 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: 907 records
February: 1,164 records
March: 762 records
April: 645 records
May: 593 records
June: 483 records
July: 394 records
August: 433 records
September: 426 records
October: 536 records
November: 643 records
December: 808 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–124 m · Deepest record: 2,939.8 m

0–10 m: 4,306 records
10–20 m: 922 records
20–30 m: 352 records
30–40 m: 142 records
40–50 m: 192 records
50–60 m: 248 records
60–70 m: 216 records
70–80 m: 381 records
80–90 m: 137 records
90–100 m: 54 records
100–110 m: 89 records
110+ m: 957 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 11–27 °C

10–12 °C: 10 records
12–14 °C: 295 records
14–16 °C: 197 records
16–18 °C: 14 records
18–20 °C: 31 records
20–22 °C: 61 records
22–24 °C: 23 records
24–26 °C: 4 records
26–28 °C: 4 records

Photos

(c) Zara, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lek Khauv, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lek Khauv, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) porkytama, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Australian Smooth Hound, Flake, gummy shark, Smooth Dog-shark, Sweet William, White-spotted Gummy Shark

Names in 3 more languages

German: Australischer Glatthai
Spanish: Musola austral
Japanese: ハグキホシザメ

Other scientific names: Emissola ganearum, Emissola maugeana, Mustelus walkeri

Similar species

Gummy Shark
Mustelus lenticulatus
Smooth hound
Mustelus mustelus
Starspotted smooth-hound
Mustelus manazo
Western Spotted Gummy Shark
Mustelus stevensi
Whitefin Smooth-hound
Mustelus widodoi
Andaman Smoothhound
Mustelus andamanensis

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).
9,121 open-data records from 1883 to 2022.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.