Galápagos Bullhead Shark: Facts and Where to See It

Unlike larger sharks, bullheads are poor swimmers. They spend most of the day resting on flat, rocky, boulder-strewn reefs and use their large pectoral fins to crawl along the bottom. At night they forage for shellfish, crabs and small invertebrates and spit out the hard shells.

• Corkscrew eggs. They are the only egg-laying sharks in Galápagos. The eggs are shaped like corkscrews and wedged into crevices, out of reach of predators.
• An old family. The lineage has existed since the early Jurassic.
• Possibly endemic. If the Peruvian bullheads prove to be a separate species, this would be the only shark found only in Galápagos.

Although described about 175 years ago, the species was almost forgotten by science and was long assessed as Data Deficient. The Galapagos Bullhead Shark Project, supported by the Galapagos Conservation Trust, has since used research cruises, exploratory dives and citizen science to learn how many there are and where they live. In 2025 the team performed ultrasounds on more than 120 sharks to study their breeding cycle, and its data fed into the latest IUCN assessment and the identification of important shark and ray areas in Galápagos.

Guide sighting records list the bullhead at 1 site: Buccaneer Cove on Santiago, visited by panga with a snorkel, rated Rare. The Galapagos Conservation Trust names the waters west of Isabela and Fernandina as a hotspot. Because it rests motionless on the bottom by day, it is easy to swim over without noticing.

Bullheads live in Galápagos all year, resting by day and feeding at night. In the next twelve months, 47 departures stop at the site where they are recorded.

It is listed as Least Concern. Fishing boats do not target it, but it can end up as bycatch. Deep water limits its movements, so the populations around isolated islands such as Española and Fernandina are smaller and less genetically diverse, and more exposed to climate change or pollution.

1. Looking in open water. Bullheads lie still on the bottom among boulders.
2. Expecting it on most snorkels. The guide records rate the one site Rare.
3. Disturbing crevices. They hide their eggs there; keep hands off the reef.