African lanternshark

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African lanternshark
Conservation status
Data deficient
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Dalatiidae
Genus: Etmopterus
Species: E. polli
Binomial name
Etmopterus polli
Bigelow, Schroeder & Springer, 1953

The African lanternshark, Etmopterus polli, is a shark of the family Dalatiidae found in the eastern Atlantic from Guinea to Côte d'Ivoire, and from Nigeria to Angola, between latitudes 12° N and 18° S, at depths of between 300 and 1,000 m. Its length is up to 30 cm.

The African lanternshark is a fairly stout lanternshark with a long tail, and wide-spaced denticles on the body not in rows. The two dorsal fins are about equal in size. It is found on the upper continental shelves.

Coloration is dark grey with blackish undersides, and a conspicuous broad black mark running above, ahead, and behind the pelvic fins, and other marks on the tail base and upper lobe.

Reproduction is ovoviviparous.

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