Japanese bullhead shark
Amazing fact
The Japanese bullhead shark lays eggs in cases with spiral bands, twisting them into gaps in rocks.
新潟市水族館 マリンピア日本海
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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The Japanese bullhead shark lays eggs in cases with spiral bands, twisting them into gaps in rocks.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Japanese bullhead shark
- Scientific name
- Heterodontus japonicus
- Japanese name
- ネコザメ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Heterodontiformes
- Family
- Heterodontidae
- Genus
- Heterodontus
It crushes the hard shells of shellfish with its strong teeth, and is also called sazae-wari, "turban-shell breaker".
How the Japanese bullhead shark lives
It is active at night. It lives in shallow seawater. During the day, it rests in rock crevices and similar places.
新潟市水族館 マリンピア日本海Australian MuseumBasic data
- Diet
- Shellfish such as turban shells and crustaceans
- Range
- Iwate, Fukushima, Kashima-nada, Choshi to southern Kyushu, the Seto Inland Sea, and elsewhere
- Conservation status in Japan
- Data Deficient (DD)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Marine Red List (2017)
Where the Japanese bullhead shark has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ネコザメ
- 简体中文
- 宽纹虎鲨
- 繁體中文
- 日本異齒鯊
- 한국어
- 괭이상어
- Español
- Suño japonés
- Français
- Requin Dormeur Nekozame
- Deutsch
- Japanischer Stierkopfhai
- Português (Brasil)
- Tubarão-focinho-de-porco-japonês
- Italiano
- Squalo testa di toro giapponese
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Hiu tanduk jepang
- Русский
- Японская бычья акула
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ネコザメChecked: 2026-11-03
- 海遊館 — ネコザメChecked: 2026-11-03
- 新潟市水族館 マリンピア日本海 — ネコザメChecked: 2026-11-07
- Australian Museum — Japanese Bullhead Shark, Heterodontus japonicus (Maclay & Macleay, 1884)Checked: 2026-11-07
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Marine Red List (2017)Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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