They can have a smooth or rough coat and be speckled, mottled, or blotchy. It lays two blotchy yellowish eggs on a ground scrape. It is blotchy brown or red-brown in color, with a paler underbelly. Especially for the darker red and purple colourings this colouring is somewhat blotchy. His skin is blotchy and pink, with long, brittle black hair. He is described as ugly, with blotchy skin and dry, dark hair. Pulmonary angiography may reveal diffusely fine or blotchy vascular configuration. The bark is typical of the scribbly gum, being blotchy white with scribbles. Their colour pattern was blotchy and suggested a rotting carcass. Adults are usually blotchy with grey, green, or black, and have large, lidded eyes. They lay 2 or 3 blotchy white eggs in crevices or rock cavities. These immature larvae feed individually between the leaf surfaces, creating blotchy kidney shaped mines. The taxonomy of the blotchy swellshark has a history of confusion. It was also known as "Baldwin spot" and "blotchy cork" in North America. The blotchy swellshark is harmless and fares well in captivity.