Great lanternshark

Great lanternshark
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Etmopteridae
Genus: Etmopterus
Species: E. princeps
Binomial name
Etmopterus princeps
(Collett, 1904)
Range of the great lanternshark (in blue)

The great lanternshark, Etmopterus princeps, also known as Rough Sagre Shark, is a shark of the family Etmopteridae found in the northeast and northwest Atlantic.[1][2] Its name was given as at the time of its discovery, it was thought to be bioluminescent, but this has been challenged.[3]

Description

This species of shark is slender and small, generally found in deep water. They can grow up to 75 centimetres (30 in).[4] It is a black or a very dark brown, uniformly, in color, and lacks an anal fin. It lives from 570 metres (1,870 ft) to 2,200 metres (7,200 ft). The dorsal fins have an associated spine. [5]

References

  1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Etmopterus princeps" in FishBase. July 2006 version.
  2. Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, Sharks of the World, Princeton University Press, New Jersey 2005 ISBN 0-691-12072-2
  3. http://www.deepseawaters.com/rough-sagre-shark.htm
  4. Rui Coelho and Karim Erzini (2005). Length at first maturity of two species of lantern sharks (Etmopterus spinax and Etmopterus pusillus) off southern Portugal. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 85, pp 1163-1165. doi:10.1017/S0025315405012245.
  5. http://new-brunswick.net/new-brunswick/sharks/species/roughsagre.html
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