Gummy Shark

About this species

The spotted estuary smooth-hound or rig is a houndshark of the family Triakidae, found on the continental shelves and in estuaries around New Zealand. It is closely related to the gummy shark of Australia. Males can grow up to a length of 125 cm (49 in), while females can reach a length of 151 cm (59 in). In 2025, rigs were found to be the first known shark species capable of active sound production, namely, "clicks."

Text from the Wikipedia article “Spotted estuary smooth-hound”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 63 records
February: 40 records
March: 81 records
April: 114 records
May: 151 records
June: 28 records
July: 16 records
August: 13 records
September: 24 records
October: 27 records
November: 32 records
December: 56 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 20–152 m · Deepest record: 1,048 m

0–10 m: 41 records
10–20 m: 338 records
20–30 m: 531 records
30–40 m: 424 records
40–50 m: 421 records
50–60 m: 271 records
60–70 m: 235 records
70–80 m: 181 records
80–90 m: 189 records
90–100 m: 177 records
100–110 m: 179 records
110+ m: 888 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 10–18 °C

10–12 °C: 91 records
12–14 °C: 191 records
14–16 °C: 344 records
16–18 °C: 297 records
18–20 °C: 3 records

Photos

(c) Saryu Mae 前朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Doug Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Shaun Lee, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ellen Rykers, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jonas Sielenkämper, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim Park, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Gummy Shark, Rig, Spotted Dogfish, Spotted estuary rig, spotted estuary smooth-hound, Spotted Smoothhound

Names in 4 more languages

German: Gefleckter Brackwasser-Glatthai
Spanish: Musola manchada
French: Emissole grivelée, Émissole grivelée
Japanese: ニュージーランドホシザメ

Similar species

Australian Smooth Hound
Mustelus antarcticus
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).
4,767 open-data records from 1900 to 2018.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.