Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and South Africa (including Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar) to Philippines, north to Viet Nam, south to Australia. Also from Palau, Marshall Islands, and Tahiti. Recorded from Taiwan.

A large, stocky, yellowish shark with a broad, blunt snout, narrow, smooth-cusped teeth in both jaws, and equal-sized dorsal fins. Yellowish brown above, paler below.

Found on continental and insular shelves and terraces. Common on coral reefs and in shallow, sandy lagoons and turbid, mangrove swamps.