Gummy shark
Fish · Last reviewed 2026-10-22
A small, white-spotted, flat-toothed shark of southern Australia's bays and shelf, fished from piers and beaches at night on the rising tide.
Catching Gummy shark
Everything here on fishing for it. Each entry opens the page behind it.
- Lives in
- Sea
- Rules
- Set where you fish, not recorded here for the species. Who to ask
- Ground
- When
- Mar–Oct — months recorded at the places that document it, not a season for the whole range.
- Where
- 4 places FishingHQ documents — strongest claim anywhere: regular local target
- How
- From the shore at 4 — the number of places that record it that way.
The gummy shark is a southern Australian shark that anglers meet in bays as well as offshore: the Victorian Fisheries Authority names a Western Port beach as its place for them, and lists them at two of the bay's piers.
It takes its name from its teeth. The Australian Museum and the Commonwealth fisheries regulator both describe flat, blunt teeth set like paving rather than cutting teeth, suited to the crabs and cephalopods it mostly eats. It is grey or grey-brown above with white spots on the back and upper sides, and white beneath, and its second dorsal fin is nearly as big as the first.
It is a slow-living fish. Females mature at four to five years, carry their young for eleven to twelve months and give birth to live pups in summer, usually about fourteen at a time; the fish lives up to sixteen years. The Commonwealth stock it belongs to is managed by quota and reported as not overfished, and FishBase records it as Least Concern.
In the bays it is a night fish: the Victorian agency gives March to October as its peak and recommends fishing at night around the full and new moon on a rising tide.
Catching it
How it is caught
Where and whenBack to the questions
Where Gummy shark is documented
Places where public sources describe this species as fished, with how it is fished and how strongly the evidence supports it. This is not a range map and it is not a recommendation — it is what has been written down about a fishery rather than a record of any individual catch, and being listed is never permission to fish.
See these by shore, boat, kayak, fly or fresh water in the species finder.
Victoria
4 documented places
- Western Port · BaySeasonal · from the shore · around March to October
- Merricks Beach · BeachRegular local target · from the shore
- Corinella Pier · PierRegular local target · from the shore
1 more place here
- Cowes Jetty · JettyRegular local target · from the shore
What these strengths mean
- Seasonal
- Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
- Regular local target
- Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
- Where and how to catch it: these places by shore, boat, kayak, fly or fresh water, with the gear linked to it.
- Trip planner: a destination, a method and a season, put together.
- Location explorer: documented places by distance from where you are.
- Browse fishing places by part of the world
The fishBack to the questions
Identification
No photograph of Gummy shark is published yet, so none is shown. A photograph is published only once the animal in it has been checked against the diagnostic features described on this page, and its rights to be used here have been checked at its source.
- Scientific name
- Mustelus antarcticus
- Family
- Triakidae
- Water
- Saltwater
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Regions
- Australia
- A slender, small shark with a short head: grey or grey-brown above, white below.
- White spots on the back and upper sides, which give it the name white-spotted gummy shark.
- Flat, blunt teeth in several rows, set like paving — the 'gummy' of the name — rather than sharp cutting teeth.
- The second dorsal fin is almost as large as the first.
- Juveniles can show a black margin to the dorsal fin.
Size
- Typical
- Not given as a figure by the sources read
- Large
- Up to about 1.75 m, females larger than males, according to the Commonwealth regulator
Exceptional: FishBase records a maximum of 157 cm and 30.8 kg; the regulator gives 24.8 kg
Lifecycle and reproduction
Females mature at four to five years and males at a smaller size. Males stop growing much after about ten years while females keep growing, and the fish lives up to sixteen years. Juveniles gather in particular areas across southern Australia; adults spread more widely and group by sex and size.
Live-bearing. Gestation lasts eleven to twelve months and the pups are born in summer, usually about fourteen to a litter, though the regulator records up to fifty-seven in a large female. That slow reproduction is the reason the fishery is managed by quota.
Feeding and senses
Mostly cephalopods and crustaceans, and occasionally fish, according to both the museum and the regulator. The Victorian agency's baits follow from that: pilchards, squid, and fillets of salmon, mullet or trevally, and cured eel.
The pages read do not describe how gummy sharks find prey. The Victorian agency's advice — night, around the full and new moon, on a rising tide — is a description of when they are caught rather than of how they hunt.
Through the year
The Victorian Fisheries Authority gives March to October as the peak season in its bays. The regulator says pups are born in summer. Neither source describes a seasonal migration in or out of the bays.
Distribution
Endemic to southern Australia: from Western Australia through Bass Strait to Tasmania and northern New South Wales, possibly southern Queensland and Shark Bay (FishBase). The regulator gives Bunbury to Jervis Bay; the museum northern New South Wales to south-western Western Australia. Usually shallower than 80 m.
This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.
Why anglers care
A shore and pier target in Victoria's bays. The Victorian Fisheries Authority names Merricks Beach on Western Port as its hot spot and lists gummy shark at Corinella Pier, where a deep channel runs beside the pier, and at Cowes Jetty. It recommends a running sinker or paternoster rig, oily fish or squid baits, night fishing around the full and new moon, and a rising tide.
Handling and returning
The sources read give no handling instructions beyond what the state's rules require; the Victorian agency publishes size and bag limits and how the catch may be prepared, which change and are not restated here. A live-bearing, slow-maturing shark is one where returning undersized fish in good condition matters.
Safety and rulesBack to the questions
Sources and evidence
5 sources cited on this page
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Family, maximum size, depth range, environment and distribution for Mustelus antarcticus.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The Least Concern assessment for Mustelus antarcticus, assessed 15 April 2015, as FishBase reports it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Gummy shark — Australian Fisheries Management Authority (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Identification, size, distribution, depth, live-bearing reproduction, gestation, litter size, longevity, diet and the Commonwealth stock statement.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Gummy Shark, Mustelus antarcticus — Australian Museum (Mark McGrouther), updated 23 March 2021 (Scientific institute)Relied on for: The pavement-like teeth that give the name, colour, the juvenile fin margin, size, range and diet.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Go Fishing — Western Port — Victorian Fisheries Authority (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Gummy shark at Merricks Beach, Corinella Pier and Cowes Jetty; peak season March to October; night around the full and new moon on a rising tide; rigs and baits.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Why the 2 connections on this page are here, and the sources
How it is caught
Official guidance — 1 connection
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Ledgering
The Victorian agency's species panel for Western Port gives the rig, baits and timing.
- Go Fishing — Western Port — Victorian Fisheries Authority (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: That gummy shark are fished on a running sinker or paternoster rig with pilchards, squid, fish fillets or cured eel, at night around the full and new moon on a rising tide.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Where it lives
Official guidance — 1 connection
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Inshore ground
The Commonwealth regulator places it on or near the seabed on the shelf.
- Gummy shark — Australian Fisheries Management Authority (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: That the gummy shark is demersal on the continental shelf, usually in water shallower than about 80 m.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.