Dalatias licha (Kitefin shark)

(Bonnaterre, 1788)

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

Dalatias licha (Kitefin shark) [Illustration by Ann Hecht ©]

Identification

A blunt-headed, grey to black shark with thick fringed lips, huge triangular, serrated lower teeth, and equal-sized spineless dorsal fins.

Size

To 1.6-1.8 m TL.

Range

East coast off Port Elizabeth, also Natal and Mozambique; widespread in the Atlantic, western Indian Ocean, and west-central Pacific.

Habitat

Upper slope at 240 to 540 m.

Biology

Common off Natal. Bears 10 to 16 young. A powerful deep-sea predator, feeding mostly on deepwater bony fish, but also takes skates, catsharks, spiny dogfish, squid, octopus, shrimp, and lobsters.

Human Impact

Commonly caught by bottom trawlers off Natal, with some processed for their squalene-rich liver oil.

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