Author: Bonaparte, 1834
Diagnostic Features:
Dorsal surface of head, body and precaudal tail, and dorsal fin bases smooth or with small inconspicuous tubercles or low longitudinal ridges, not noticeably warty. Trunk moderately broad, width across pectoral insertions considerably less than head length. Precaudal tail rather long, distance from pelvic insertion to lower caudal origin much greater than head length. Head narrow, its greatest width about equal or less than distance from snout tip to first gill openings; chin smooth, without a beard of dermal lobes; dermal lobes of sides and front of head small, short, unbranched or slightly branched, and forming isolated groups that are broadly separated from one another; nasal barbels simple and unbranched or with a weak basal branch. Interspace between first and second dorsal fins usually longer than first dorsal inner margin (slightly shorter than first dorsal inner margin in one species) and varying from over half to about a fifth of first dorsal base; dorsal fins fairly high and short to moderately long, height of first over 3/4 of its base length, length of first dorsal base less than pelvic length from origin to free rear tip; origin of first dorsal fin behind midbases of pelvics; pectoral and pelvic fins small and widely spaced from each other, distance from pectoral insertions to pelvic origins at least 1.5 times length of pectoral bases and somewhat greater than pelvic lengths from origins to free rear tips. Colour: dorsal surface with a colour pattern of regular or jagged-edged broad dark saddles separated by light- areas with dusky blotches, scattered dark spots or semi-reticulated broad lines, or 0-shaped light spots on a dark background; no reticulating narrow lines with spots at their junctions, but broad reticulating lines without spots are present in at least one species.
Remarks:
The present account of this genus follows Ogilby and McCulloch (1908), Regan (1908), Whitley (1940) in many details, but is regarded as highly provisional due to the limited amount of wobbegong material that could be examined in the time available. Particularly problematical is the status of subspecies in the species Orectolobus ornatus. Also, in western Australian waters there apparently is a distinct, undescribed species of wobbegong, that is very abundant and resembles O. ornatus as well as Sutorectus tentaculatus (B. Hutchins, pers. comm.).