| Family: |
Somniosidae (Sleeper sharks) |
| Max. size: |
148 cm TL (male/unsexed); max.weight: 21 kg |
| Environment: |
bathydemersal; marine; depth range 100 - 1500 m |
| Distribution: |
Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Western Indian Ocean: from off the Seychelles to the Madagascar Ridge and South Africa. Eastern Indian Ocean off Indonesia and southwestern Australia. Southwestern Pacific: off Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. Northwestern Pacific: off Japan and from the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Southeastern Pacific: west of Chile. Southwestern Atlantic: off French Guiana, Brazil, and Uruguay. Northwestern Atlantic: Gulf of Mexico. Eastern Atlantic: from off the Azores in the North to off South Africa in the south. |
| Diagnosis: |
Anal spines: 0-0; Anal soft rays: 0-0. Dark brown or black in color, dorsal fins with extreme tips of fin spines protruding from the fins, moderately long snout, lanceolate upper teeth and bladelike lower teeth with short, oblique cusps, fairly stocky body that does not taper abruptly from pectoral region, large lateral trunk denticles with mostly smooth, circular, cuspidate and acuspidate crowns in adults and subadults (Ref. 247). |
| Biology: |
Found on upper continental slopes, on or near the bottom (Ref. 247). Feeds on fish and cephalopods (Ref. 6871). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 205), with 16- 28 young born at 27-30 cm (Ref. 26346). Caught in trawls or longlines set at depths greater than 400 m (Ref. 55584). Flesh is high in mercury (Ref. 6871). Utilized as fishmeal and source of squalene (liver oil) (Ref. 6871). Maximum depth from Ref. 55584. |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Vulnerable (VU); Date assessed: 08 July 2017 (A2d) Ref. (130435)
|
| Threat to humans: |
poisonous to eat |
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