Centrophorus lusitanicus (Lowfin gulper shark)

Bocage & Capello, 1864

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Chondrichthyes > Elasmobranchii > Squalomorphii > Squaliformes > Centrophoridae

Centrophorus lusitanicus (Lowfin gulper shark) [Illustration by Anne Hecht ©]

Identification

A large, stout gulper shark with a broad snout, a long, low 1 st dorsal fin and a high 2nd dorsal fin; pectoral rear tips moderately long; denticles low, flat and smooth. Colour pearl-grey.

Size

Up to 1,6 m TL.

Range

East coast off Natal and southern Mozambique; elsewhere, widespread in the Atlantic and western Pacific oceans.

Habitat

Outer shelf and upper slope at depths of 400-1 000 m.

Biology

Common off Natal. Feeds on bony fish, squid, small dogfish, and lobsters. Bears 1 to 6 young.

Human impact

Occasionally caught by bottom trawlers.

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