Frog shark
Frog shark | |
---|---|
Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
Order: | Squaliformes |
Family: | Somniosidae |
Genus: | Somniosus |
Species: | S. longus |
Binomial name | |
Somniosus longus S. Tanaka (I), 1912 | |
Synonyms | |
Heteroscymnus longus Tanaka, 1912 |
The frog shark (Somniosus longus) is a species of shark that is very rare and is mainly found in deeper water. It is in the sleeper shark family with the Greenland shark.
Description
The frog shark is known to grow to at least 143 cm in length.
Range
Fewer than a dozen specimens of this deep water shark have been collected, mostly from the Pacific Ocean. The frog shark has been recorded off the coasts of Japan, New Zealand, and possibly Salas y GΓ³mez, as well as the Nazca Ridge, from as shallow as 120-150 m and as deep as 1,116 m.[2]
Threats
The Frog Shark is occasionally caught by trawl, longline, and crab-pot fisheries.
References
- β Francis, M. & Tanaka, S. (2009). "Somniosus longus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
- β "Somniosus longus".