 The first known specimen of the longhead catshark was captured in Tosa Bay, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, on May 12, 1972.The 38-cm-long specimen was initially thought to be an immature male, but has since been identified as a functionally female hermaphrodite.The new species was described by Kazuhiro Nakaya in a 1975 volume of the scientific journal "Memoirs of the Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University".