Leafscale gulper shark

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Leafscale gulper shark
Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
Conservation status
Vulnerable
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Subclass: Elasmobranchii Order: Squaliformes Family: Centrophoridae Genus: Centrophorus Species: C. squamosus
Binomial name
Centrophorus squamosus (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Range of leafscale gulper shark (in blue)

The leafscale gulper shark, Centrophorus squamosus, is a dogfish of the family Centrophoridae.

Contents 1 Physical characteristics 2 Distribution 3 Habits and habitat 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Physical characteristics

The leafscale gulper shark has no anal fin, two dorsal fins with spines, the first dorsal being relatively low and long, large eyes, and rough leaf-like denticles. Its maximum length is 158 cm.

[edit] Distribution

Eastern Atlantic around continental slopes from Iceland south to the Cape of Good Hope, Western Indian Ocean around Aldabra Islands, and western Pacific around Honshū, Japan, the Philippines, south-east Australia, and New Zealand.

[edit] Habits and habitat

The leafscale gulper shark lives near the bottom between 230 and 2,360 meters, but usually below 1,000 meters. Also occurs pelagically in much deeper water. It probably feeds on fish and cephalopods.

It is ovoviviparous with a maximum of 5 young per litter.

Its meat is utilized dried and salted for human consumption and as fishmeal.

[edit] See also

• Centrophoridae

[edit] References

• White (2003). Centrophorus squamosus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is vulnerable
• Centrophorus squamosus (TSN 160635). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 5 February 2006.
• FAO Species Catalogue Volume 4 Parts 1 and 2 Sharks of the World
• "Centrophorus squamosus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.