 The nervous shark is found over continental and insular shelves off northern Australia from Shark Bay in the west to Moreton Bay in the east, as well as off Papua New Guinea and around the Solomon Islands. It is among the most common sharks in Darwin Harbor, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Shark Bay. This species generally inhabits shallow inshore waters, to a depth of at least 45 m (148 ft). It seems to particularly favor mangrove-lined areas with sandy-muddy bottoms and avoids areas with dense seagrass cover.
