Spotted as an adult and striped as a juvenile, which is where the name comes from. It rests on sand facing into the current.
To about 2.5 m, pale tan covered in dark spots as an adult, with prominent ridges running the length of the body and a tail nearly half the total length. Juveniles are entirely different — dark brown with pale vertical stripes, which is where the name comes from and why the adult, which has none, confuses people. In much of its range it is called the leopard shark, which is a different species elsewhere.
It rests on sand beside reef by day, facing into the current with the mouth open, and feeds at night on molluscs and crustaceans taken from crevices by suction. It is entirely harmless and it lets divers approach closely, which is why it is a photograph rather than a sighting. It is listed as endangered and several populations are being restocked from captive-bred animals.
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.