Centroscymnus coelolepis (Portugese shark)

Bocage & Capello, 1864

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

Centroscymnus coelolepis (Portugese shark) [Illustration by Ann Hecht ©]

Identification

A stocky, blackish-brown dogfish with a short snout, large mouth, short labial furrows and large round flat overlapping denticles in adults (young with tricuspidate denticles); lower teeth with short, bent cusps.

Size

To 1.1 m TL.

Range

West coast, Namibia to Quoin Point; elsewhere widespread in the northern Atlantic and western Pacific.

Habitat

Slope at 668 to 1016 m in the area, elsewhere down to 3675 m.

Biology

Common off the west coast. Bears 13 to 16 young. Feeds on bony fish, gastropods, squid and octopi, and cetacean meat.

Human Impact

None.

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