Mustelus antarcticus Günther, 1870
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus), 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 (eastern spotted gummy shark) is the same animal as M. antarcticus. One theory is that M. walkeri is a subpopulation of M. antarcticus.
Wikipedia contributors, Gummy shark; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:14:58.690078+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mustelus antarcticus Günther, 1870
- Name authority
- Günther, 1870
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Carcharhiniformes
- Family
- Triakidae
- Genus
- Mustelus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumChondrichthyes
- classElasmobranchii
- subclassNeoselachii
- infraclassSelachii
- superorderGaleomorphi
- orderCarcharhiniformes
- familyTriakidae Gray, 1851
- subfamilyTriakinae Gray, 1851
- genusMustelus Linck, 1790
- speciesMustelus antarcticus Günther, 1870
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Mustelus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| gray smoothhoundMustelus californicus Gill, 1864 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| smooth dogfishMustelus canis (Mitchill, 1815) | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mustelus fasciatus (Garman, 1913) | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mustelus lenticulatus Phillipps, 1932 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mustelus mento Cope, 1877 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| smooth houndMustelus mustelus (Linnaeus, 1758) | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Florida smoothhoundMustelus norrisi Springer, 1939 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| whitespotted smooth-houndMustelus palumbes Smith, 1957 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| blackspotted smoothhoundMustelus punctulatus Risso, 1827 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mustelus ravidus White & Last, 2006 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mustelus stevensi White & Last, 2008 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mustelus widodoi White & Last, 2006 | TriakidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Emissola ganearum Whitley, 1945 Whitley, 1945 | synonym |
| Emissola maugeana Whitley, 1939 Whitley, 1939 | synonym |
| Mustelus walkeri White & Last, 2008 White & Last, 2008 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Günther, A. (1870). Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Physostomi, containing the families Gymnotidae, Symbranchidae, Muraenidae, Pegasidae, and of the Lophobranchii, Plectognathi, Dipnoi, ...[thru] ... Leptocardii, in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum., v. 8: i–xxv + 1–549. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:44QZR. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.