The first scientific description of the banded houndshark was authored by German biologists Johannes Peter Müller and Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, based on a dried specimen from Japan, in their 1838–41 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen.

[2] Native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean, the banded houndshark occurs from the southern Russian Far East to Taiwan, including Japan, Korea, and eastern China; records from the Philippines are questionable.

[4] It frequents sandy flats and beds of seaweed and eelgrass; additionally, it is tolerant of brackish water and enters estuaries and bays.

The snout is short, broad, and rounded; the widely separated nostrils are each preceded by a lobe of skin that does not reach the mouth.

The horizontally oval eyes are placed high on the head; they are equipped with rudimentary nictitating membranes (protective third eyelids) and have prominent ridges underneath.

[6] Mating occurs during the summer, and involves the male swimming parallel to the female and gripping her pectoral fin with his teeth; thus secured, he then twists the distal portion of his body to insert a single clasper into her cloaca for copulation.

[1] Known parasites of this species include the tapeworms Callitetrarhynchus gracilis,[10] Onchobothrium triacis, and Phyllobothrium serratum,[11] the leech Stibarobdella macrothela,[12] and the copepods Achtheinus impenderus,[13] Caligus punctatus,[14] Kroyeria triakos,[15] and Pseudopandarus scyllii.

[16] Harmless to humans,[17] the banded houndshark is commonly displayed in public aquariums in China and Japan,[1] and has reproduced in captivity.

[5] This species is often caught incidentally off Japan in gillnets and set nets; the meat is sometimes sold, but is considered to be of poorer quality than that of other houndsharks in the region.