These small to medium-sized bottom-dwelling sharks are found mostly in, but are not limited to, the area around the southern seas of Australia and is commonly baited and fished for cuisine because of its taste and market prices.

According to a 2021 paper by White, Arunrugstichai & Naylorn (2021), Mustelus walkeri (eastern spotted gummy shark) is the same animal as M.

[4] The gummy shark gets its name from its flat, plate-like teeth which it uses to crush its shelled and non-shelled prey, giving its jaws the superficial appearance of toothlessness.

In Central Queensland, where fishing mortality is low, gummy sharks exhibit slower growth rates than in southern Australia.

Researchers have found that female gummy sharks grow slower, leading to a larger size than males.

The gummy shark feeds on crustaceans, marine worms, small fish, and cephalopods such as octopus, squid and cuttlefish.

[7] Gummy sharks are primarily found to live in sandy areas and will come closer to shores during the night in search of prey.

The gummy shark is primarily found living on the southern coast of Australia around Bunbury including but not limited to the island of Tasmania and the Bass Strait.

Female gummy sharks can be found in the west and southwest of Western Australia due to the prime habitat for breeding and feeding.

Some factors that could play into this are refuge from mating, intraspecific competition, differences in prey availability, and energetic requirements.

The sperm can migrate and is found in the uterine sphincter (a muscular structure that regulates the passing of urine from the bladder into the urethra) and the body of the uterus.

Gummy sharks have a biennial reproduction cycle (two years), which could be due to females mating prior to first ovulation.

Pregnant gummy sharks will rely on inshore nursery areas such as a bay or sheltered space close to shore to have her pups.

Because of gummy sharks' bottom-dwelling habitat, they have minimal contact with humans, and they tend to flee when spotted, hence why observational studies of this species is difficult.

[15] The other main predator is the broadnose sevengill shark, which preys on juveniles that remain close to shallow waters.

Due to this, fisheries are constantly discarding them as a byproduct of meeting a commercial quota or minimum length limits for the species.

However, they did experience an increase in sea surface temperatures (SST), which could have led to a metabolic rate elevating and anabolic activity in their white muscles.

[20] Some factors that could have affected their physiological responses could have been attributed to reduced metabolic scope and enhanced respiratory performance under capture conditions.

This significantly impacts elasmobranchs due to their osmoregulatory system being ion-regulating osmoconformers[22] This means they have to adjust their internal ion concentrations to match the surrounding water, which induces physiological stresses.

However, it has been seen that the number of young gummy sharks has been declining in Pittwater Estuary due to the wet season forcing them to leave.

This is beneficial since Frederick Henry Bay has a more stable salinity level compared to Pittwater Estuary, which allows the gummy sharks to experience some relief from these stress factors.

Nonetheless, hypersalinity levels (41%) significantly affect Mustelus antarcticus[23] Some effect factors that high salinity has on gummy sharks are dysregulation of plasma sodium, an increase in induction of heat shock proteins (HSPs), and, upon returning to normal saltwater salinity, inability to fully recover their aerobic metabolic rates.

Some key things to consider for the Conservation of Mustelus antarcticus are its physiological limits, reproduction tendencies, and growth.

Especially since gummy sharks are a very common commercial species within the Australian region, another thing to consider is taking stock of their growth perimeters to gauge the population dynamics and better establish fishing practices.