Zameus squamulosus (Velvet dogfish)

(Günther, 1877)

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

Zameus squamulosus (Velvet dogfish) [Illustration by Ann Hecht ©]

Identification

A small slender black dogfish with a moderately long snout, narrow mouth, short labial furrows, and high-cusped, knifelike lower teeth; denticles tricuspidate with transverse ridges.

Size

To 69 cm TL.

Range

East coast off Natal, from the stomach of a sperm whale harpooned off Durban; elsewhere, widespread in the eastern Atlantic and western Pacific.

Habitat

Elsewhere on or near the bottom on the slopes at 550 to 1450 m, or from the surface to 580 m in the open ocean.

Biology

Virtually unknown.

Human Impact

None.

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