It is listed as a near-threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to steep declines in population in areas affected by trawling.

Alongside H. ogilbyi, three other putative Hydrolagus populations defined by mitochondrial DNA were found to nest within Chimaera: Hydrolagus lemures (from Western Australia), and two unnamed populations from southern Indonesia and northern Papua New Guinea.

These four populations are indistinguishable from each other according to nuclear DNA and morphological (appearance)-based data.

As a result, the four populations were combined into one species, for which Chimaera ogilbyi is the oldest name.

[3] Specimens formerly placed in the species Hydrolagus lemures (the bight ghostshark or blackfin ghostshark) are found in the waters of Australia from Queensland to Western Australia where, near the ocean floor of the continental shelf and upper slope.