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Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Squaliformes (Sleeper and dogfish sharks) > Somniosidae (Sleeper sharks)
Etymology: Somniosus: Latin for sleepy, reflecting Lesueur’s surmise that these sharks are slow or sluggish because of their relatively small fins (hence the name sleeper sharks) (See ETYFish); antarcticus: -icus (L.), belonging to: the Antarctic (Whitley presumed this to be the first shark recorded from there) (See ETYFish).
More on author: Whitley.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 485 - 1150 m (Ref. 50224). Deep-water

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South Indo-Pacific and South Atlantic.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 438 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 50224); 430.0 cm TL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Vertebrae: 36 - 38. Somniosus antarcticus differs from S. pacificus by the following characters: interdorsal space about 80% of prebranchial length (vs. 70%); height of first dorsal fin about 3.0% of precaudal length (PCL) (vs. 3.7%); height of second dorsal fin about 2.9% of PCL (vs. 3.4%); number of turns in spiral valve 36-41 (mode 39) (vs. 32-37, mode 33); precaudal vertebrae 30-31 (mode 30) (vs. 28-30, mode 29) (Ref. 50224).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

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Yano, K., J.D. Stevens and L.J.V. Compagno, 2004. A review of the systematics of the sleeper shark genus Somniosus with redescriptions of Somniosus (Somniosus) antarcticus and Somniosus (Rhinoscymnus) longus (Squaliformes: Somniosidae). Ichthyol. Res. 51:360-373. (Ref. 50224)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 02 July 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: bycatch

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Trophic ecology
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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 1.7 - 5.8, mean 4 °C (based on 113 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5313 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00380 (0.00164 - 0.00880), b=3.14 (2.95 - 3.33), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.5 ±0.58 se; based on food items.

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).

Somniosus antarcticus Whitley, 1939