Odontaspis noronhai
Bigeye Sand Tiger
Collection Details
Event Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Lamniformes (Mackerel Sharks)
Odontaspididae (Sand Tigers)
Odontaspis
Odontaspis noronhai (Bigeye Sand Tiger)
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.
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Characters
Rather stout bodied, with a relatively long, conical snout and a relatively long, low caudal fin. Snout is narrowly rounded. Lower jaw has labial furrows. Teeth have prominent, narrow cusp and lateral cusp on each side. Two relatively large tooth rows occur on either side of symphysis, and these are separated from large lateral teeth by small tooth. Eye is relatively large. First dorsal fin is distinctly larger than second dorsal fin and is located closer to pectoral fin base than to pelvic fin base. Origin of second dorsal fin is over midbase to near end of base of pelvic fin. Caudal fin has well-developed ventral lobe.
Color is gray to chocolate brown dorsally and ventrally.
Distribution
A single specimen is known from the Gulf of Mexico, off Brownsville, Texas, in 100 m of water.
Gulf of Mexico, off Brownsville, Texas, in 100 m of water
Habitat Associations
Occurs between 600 and 1,000 m in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans
Biology
Maximum known size is 360 cm TL
Males mature at 326 to 342 cm TL, and females mature at 326 cm TL
A deepwater shark inhabiting the continental and insular slopes (Ref. 50449, 58302). Pelagic (Ref. 58302). Ovoviviparous, embryos feeding on yolk sac and other ova produced by the mother (Ref. 50449). Feeding habits unknown.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-11-09. Resilience: Very low (Fec assumed to be <10).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of potential interest.
References
Maul 1955
Compagno 1984
Quero 1984a
Sadowsky et al. 1984
Branstetter and McEachran 1986a
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 1 - Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/1):1-249. Rome, FAO.
Springer, S. (1990) Odontaspididae. p. 81-82. 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.
Humphreys, R.L. Jr., R.B. Moffitt and M.P. Seki (1989) First record of the bigeye sand tiger shark Odontaspis noronhai from the Pacific Ocean. Jap. J. Ichthyol. 36(3):357-362.
Fricke, R., M. Kulbicki and L. Wantiez (2011) Checklist of the fishes of New Caledonia, and their distribution in the Southwest Pacific Ocean (Pisces). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, Neue Serie 4:341-463.
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