Eucrossorhinus dasypogon

(Bleeker, 1867)

Tasseled Wobbegong

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and northern Australia.

Size: 72 inches (180 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits intertidal zones, quiet lagoons, reef channels and resting in caves and usually found at depths between 6 to 150 feet (2 - 45 m) where it feeds on small fishes, shrimp, worms, crabs urchins, and other crustaceans.

General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade, having a very wide head, mottled brownish body with lobes on its chin.

They are best maintained in large shark and stingrays type aquariums having deep fine-grained sand, and wide-open swimming areas, peaceful, none fin-nipping tankmates and tankmates too large to be eaten. Also a large, well-filtered and well-oxygenated system with few environment obstructions, however, should have large caves and/or ledges to hide in/under, especially during daylight hours.

Do not house with large triggerfishes, angelfishes, wrasses, and pufferfishes, as they can pick on the shark and cause skin and/or eye damage.

Requires a meaty diet, i.e., preferably live grass shrimp, earthworms and/or crabs and/or chopped meaty foods such as fish flesh, shrimp, clams, scallops and earthworms and be fed two to three times weekly. Place food on the substrate near the specimen and it will find it and suck it up.

Taxonomy:

Class: Chondrichthyes

Subclass: Elasmobranchii

Order: Orectolobiformes

Family: Orectolobidae

Genus: Eucrossorhinus

FYI: Will eat smaller tankmates.

The most aggressive of all wobblgongs.

Very sensitive to copper, therefore aquarium water should be made with RO/DI processed water.

Experience Level: Expert

Temperament: Aggressive

Diet: Carnivore

Coral Safe: Yes

Fish Safe: No

Invertebrate Safe: No

Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+

Aquarium Environment: Fish-only aquarium/with caution

Tankmates: Peaceful and too large to be eaten

Minimum Tank Size: 500 gallons

Temperature Range: 72 - 84°F (22 - 28°C)

Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.025

pH: 8.0 - 8.5