A small nocturnal shark that walks on its fins through rubble.
To about 105 cm, slender and pale brown, with two dorsal fins set well back, a long tail, small barbels at the nostrils and spiracles behind the eyes. Adults are usually plain; juveniles carry the dark bands and scattered spots that give the species its name and lose them with age.
It is nocturnal, resting under coral heads and in rubble by day and emerging after dark to take worms, crustaceans and small fish, which it draws out of crevices by suction. It moves between shelters by pushing along on stiffened pectoral and pelvic fins as much as by swimming. Because it is a night animal and small, it is far more often recorded on night dives at muck destinations than on daytime reef dives. Females lay eggs in tough purse-shaped cases attached to the substrate. Recorded from about 2 to 30 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.