Southern African frilled shark

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iSouthern African frilled shark
Conservation status
Near Threatened (NT)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Subclass: Elasmobranchii Order: Hexanchiformes Family: Chlamydoselachidae Garman, 1884 Genus: Chlamydoselachus Garman, 1884 Species: C. sp. A
Binomial name
Chlamydoselachus sp. A

The Southern African frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus sp. A, is a primitive shark of the family Chlamydoselachidae in the order Hexanchiformes, found around Southern Africa from [[Angola to South Africa. It has yet to be formally described and named by FishBase but is considered by Leonard Compagno to be a species distinct from the frilled shark. They are very different from the other hexanchiform sharks, and it has been recently proposed that the two frilled shark species be given their own order: Chlamydoselachiformes.

The Southern African frilled shark outwardly resembles the frilled shark except that its head is usually longer and the body shorter. The internal differences include different vertebra counts, pectoral fin skeletal morphology, and intestinal valve counts.

[edit] See also

• List of sharks

[edit] References

• Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, Sharks of the World, Princeton University Press, New Jersey 2005 ISBN 0-691-12072-2