Ornate wobbegong

Ornate wobbegong
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Orectolobiformes
Family:	Orectolobidae
Genus:	Orectolobus
Species:	O. ornatus
Binomial name
Orectolobus ornatus (De Vis, 1883)
Confirmed range of the ornate wobbegong (see text)

The ornate wobbegong (Orectolobus ornatus) is a species of carpet shark in the family Orectolobidae, found in the western Pacific Ocean around eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia, between latitudes 1° N and 34° S (near Sydney). As yet, only Australian populations are known to certainly belong to this species, and it is possible populations in other countries actually represent a separate, undescribed species. The maximum reported length of the ornate wobbegong is 1.17 metres (3.8 ft). Reports of a larger maximum size is due to confusion with the recently revalidated gulf wobbegong (O. halei), which for the most part is found further south than the ornate wobbegong.

Reproduction is ovoviviparous.

References

• Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Orectolobus ornatus" in FishBase. may 2006 version.
• Huveneers, C. (2006). Redescription of two species of wobbegongs (Chondrichthyes: Orectolobidae) with elevation of Orectolobus halei Whitley 1940 to species level. Zootaxa 1284: 29-51.