Black roughscale catshark

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Black roughscale catshark
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Scyliorhinidae
Genus: Apristurus
Species: A. melanoasper
Binomial name
Apristurus melanoasper
Iglésias, Nakaya & Stehmann, 2004

The black roughscale catshark, Apristurus melanoasper, is a cat shark of the family Scyliorhinidae found in the northwest Atlantic slope, off the northern United States, and northeast Atlantic off France, Ireland and the British Isles, at depths of between 510 and 1,520 m. Its length is up to 76 cm.

The black roughscale catshark has large dermal denticles giving a rough texture to the skin, but dermal denticles on the tongue and palate are absent. Upper labial furrows longer than the lower ones. The first dorsal fin is only slightly smaller than the second. The spiral valves of the intestine have 19 to 23 (mostly 21 to 22) turns.

Coloration is uniformly black body, slightly brownish in larger specimens.

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