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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Apristurus laurussonii

No common name
NS GNR
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

There are no photos available for this taxon yet.

Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes) Carcharhiniformes (Ground Sharks) Scyliorhinidae (Cat Sharks) Apristurus Apristurus laurussonii

Description

This species account was compiled from Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Preoral snout length is 7% to 8% of TL. Nostril is enlarged and has poorly developed anterior lobe. Distance between nostrils is about 1.4 times nostril width. Mouth is long and broadly arched. Labial furrows are well developed in both jaws. Eye length is less than 4% of TL. Gill slits are not covered with pleats or grooves. First dorsal fin is equal in size to second dorsal fin. Origin of first dorsal fin is slightly anterior to midbase of pelvic fin. Distance between dorsal fins is less than distance from snout to spiracular but greater than length of base of first dorsal fin. Anal fin is separated from caudal fin by notch. Upper lobe of caudal fin lacks crest of enlarged denticles.
Color is grayish brown dorsally and ventrally.

Distribution

In the western Atlantic it occurs off Massachusetts and Delaware
and in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Habitat Associations

temperate North Atlantic, between 560 and 1,462 m

Biology

Maximum known size is 68 cm TL
Development is thought to be oviparous
Fairly common on the upper continental slopes, usually over mud or other soft sea bottom (Ref. 9996). Oviparous (Ref. 50449).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-06-19. Resilience: Very low (Fec assumed to be <10).

Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes

distinguished from the other species of the family by the following combination of characters

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: of no interest.

References

Bigelow et al. 1953
Springer 1966
Springer 1979
Castro 1983
Compagno 1984
Quero 1984f
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Compagno, L.J.V. (1984) FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO.
Springer, S. (1990) Scyliorhinidae. p. 90-94. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1.
Compagno, L.J.V. (1999) Checklist of living elasmobranchs. p. 471-498. In W.C. Hamlett (ed.) Sharks, skates, and rays: the biology of elasmobranch fishes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Maryland.
Kawauchi, J., S. Weigmann and K. Nakaya (2014) Apisturus breviventralis, a new species of deep-water catshark (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae) from the Gulf of Aden. Zootaxa 3881(1):1-16.

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