Halaelurus natalensis (Tiger catshark)

(Regan, 1904)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) >.Chondrichthyes > Elasmobranchii > Galeomorphii > Carcharhiniformes > Scyliorhinidae

Halaelurus natalensis (Tiger catshark) [Illustration by Ann Hecht ©]

Identification

A yellowish-brown catshark with a prominent upturned knob on snout, broad head, no spots, and pairs of bold, broad, vertical, dark brown stripes outlining dusky saddles.

Size

To 48 cm TL.

Range

East and southwest coast, Cape Agulhas and possibly Saldanha to East London. Endemic.

Habitat

Shelf on or near bottom from close inshore to 172 m.

Biology

Common. An egg layer, with 6 to 11 egg-cases retained in each oviduct before laying. Feeds on small bony fish, including anchovies and maasbanker, and crabs, shrimp, mysids, hermit crabs, mud shrimp, gastropods, squid, cuttlefish, polychaetes and small sharks and rays.

Human Impact

Often caught by shore and skiboat anglers.

Text by Leonard J.V. Compagno, David A. Ebert and Malcolm J. Smale