 In 1940, Gilbert Percy Whitley published the first illustrations of the bluegrey carpetshark, but unfortunately they were inaccurate in some respects, particularly on omitting a midline groove on the chin.Much taxonomic confusion then resulted, on whether the bluegrey carpetshark and the blind shark belonged to separate genera or even constituted separate species, that were not resolved until the Queensland Museum obtained new specimens for study.Other common names for this species include blue-grey catshark, bluegrey shark, and southern blind shark.