Description

This moderately sized shark is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: denticles on dorsal midline slightly enlarged, from a point level to the pectoral origin on the dorsal midline to the first dorsal origin; no enlarged denticles on the dorsal surface of the pectoral fin; no club-shaped papillae on the distal tip of the clasper; buccal papillae in mouth inconspicuous; moderate to high vertebral count, 121 total in the holotype 115 and 119 (mean 116.8) for the paratypes; relatively high tooth counts, 57 total upper teeth in the holotype (54, 59, mean 57.8 for the paratypes), 50 total lower teeth in the holotype (49, 63, mean 55.8 for the paratypes); large brown spots, stripes and blotches on a dull grey-brown background; a distinct tear line marking from the anterior of the orbit to the lateral margin of the snout; white spots absent (Ref. 75585).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Elasmobranchii

Order: Carcharhiniformes

Family: Pentanchidae

Genus: Holohalaelurus

Species: Holohalaelurus melanostigma (Norman, 1939)

Climate Zone

Location

Biology

Life cycle and mating behavior

Habitat

bathydemersal