Furgaleus macki (Whitley, 1943)
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 whiskery shark (Furgaleus macki) is a species of houndshark in the family Triakidae, and the only member of its genus. This common shark inhabits the Australian continental shelf from Western Australia to the Bass Strait, to a depth of 220 m (720 ft). It is demersal in habits and prefers rocky and vegetated habitats. Stout-bodied and almost "humpbacked" in form, the whiskery shark can be distinguished from all other members of its family by the presence of long nasal barbels. Its two moderately large dorsal fins are roughly equal in size. It is brownish gray above and lighter below, with a pattern of darker saddles and blotches in younger sharks. This species reaches 1.6 m (5.2 ft) in length. The diet of the whiskery shark consists almost entirely of octopuses. It is viviparous; females bear litters of four to 28 pups every other year from August to October, after a gestation period of 7–9 months. This harmless shark is used for its meat, being one of the species marketed as "flake" in Australia.
Wikipedia contributors, Whiskery shark; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:33:29.247210+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Furgaleus macki (Whitley, 1943)
- Name authority
- (Whitley, 1943)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Carcharhiniformes
- Family
- Triakidae
- Genus
- Furgaleus
- 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
- subfamilyGaleorhininae Gill, 1862
- genusFurgaleus Whitley, 1951
- speciesFurgaleus macki (Whitley, 1943)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Furgaleus ventralis (Whitley, 1943) (Whitley, 1943) | synonym |
| Fur macki Whitley, 1943 Whitley, 1943 | synonym |
| Fur ventralis Whitley, 1943 Whitley, 1943 | 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.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=280805 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:6K4PG. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.