Hooktooth dogfish

Hooktooth dogfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Etmopteridae
Genus: Aculeola
F. de Buen, 1959
Species: A. nigra
Binomial name
Aculeola nigra
F. de Buen, 1959
Range of hooktooth dogfish (in blue)

The hooktooth dogfish, Aculeola nigra, is a small, little-known dogfish, the only member of the genus Aculeola.

The type specimen is held at the National Natural History Museum, Santiago, Chile.

Description

The hooktooth dogfish has a blunt, flattened snout, very large eyes, a relatively long distance from the eye to the first gill slit, small grooved dorsal spines, a first dorsal fin about halfway between the pectoral and pelvic fins, and a broad caudal fin. They are black with a maximum length of only 60 cm.

Distribution

They are found in the eastern South Pacific along the coast of South America from Peru to central Chile.

Habits and habitat

This shark is a little-known, yet common, shark that lives at depths between 110 and 560 m. They are ovoviviparous, with at least three pups per litter. They probably eat bony fish and invertebrates.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 16, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.