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Animal profile

Port Jackson Shark

Heterodontus portusjacksoni

ChondrichthyesTemperate rocky reefs, sandy bottoms and seagrass beds, mostly shallower than 100 metresLeast Concern

Field profile

The Port Jackson shark is a bullhead shark with a blunt, pig-like snout, a harness-shaped dark marking and a spine in front of each dorsal fin. It grows to about 1.6 metres and feeds mainly on sea urchins and molluscs. It aggregates in the same rocky bays each winter to breed.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-11-03

Port Jackson Shark

The Port Jackson shark lays a corkscrew egg case

Its egg is a leathery cone wound with a helical flange, like a large screw. The female is thought to wedge the freshly laid, still-soft case into a rock crevice, where it hardens and becomes very difficult for a predator to remove.

Read with evidence →

Port Jackson Shark | Daily Animal Facts