 Alternate common names in English for the species include carpet shark, common carpet shark, common catshark, tassel shark, and wobbegong.The spotted wobbegong has previously been synonymised with "Orectolobus parvimaculatus", the dwarf spotted wobbegong, in Western Australia.However, the spotted wobbegong has smaller and less dense dorsal fins, which lack the black markings that the dwarf spotted wobbegong's dorsal fins have, differentiating the two fishes.