Mandarin dogfish

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Mandarin dogfish
Conservation status
Near Threatened
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Subclass: Elasmobranchii Order: Squaliformes Family: Squalidae Genus: Cirrhigaleus Species: C. barbifer
Binomial name
Cirrhigaleus barbifer Tanaka, 1912

The mandarin dogfish, Cirrhigaleus barbifer, is a dogfish, a member of the family Squalidae in the order Squaliformes. It is found in the Western Pacific, from southeastern Honshū in Japan, to New South Wales in Australia, New Zealand, and the Torres Islands in Vanuatu, on the uppermost continental and insular slopes, and probably the outer continental-insular shelves. Its length is up to 125 cm.

The mandarin dogfish is distinguished by its tremendous, mandarin-like nasal barbels. It probably feeds on bottom fishes and some invertebrates. Its reproduction is ovoviviparous, with 10 pups in a litter.

Although not utilized commercially, the liver is relatively high in squalene oil.

[edit] See also

• List of sharks

[edit] References

• "Cirrhigaleus barbifer". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.