Species Kingdom

Animalia

Species Class

Species Order

Centroscymnus owstonii Garman, 1906

Description

Anal spines: 0. Dark brown or black in color, dorsal fins with extreme tips of fin spines protruding from the fins, moderately long snout, lanceolate upper teeth and bladelike lower teeth with short, oblique cusps, fairly stocky body that does not taper abruptly from pectoral region, large lateral trunk denticles with mostly smooth, circular, cuspidate and acuspidate crowns in adults and subadults (Ref. 247).

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Elasmobranchii

Order: Squaliformes

Family: Somniosidae

Genus: Centroscymnus

Species: Centroscymnus owstonii Garman, 1906

Climate Zone

bathydemersal

Location

Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Western Indian Ocean: from off the Seychelles to the Madagascar Ridge and South Africa. Eastern Indian Ocean off Indonesia and southwestern Australia. Southwestern Pacific: off Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. Northwestern Pacific: off Japan and from the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Southeastern Pacific: west of Chile. Southwestern Atlantic: off French Guiana, Brazil, and Uruguay. Northwestern Atlantic: Gulf of Mexico. Eastern Atlantic: from off the Azores in the North to off South Africa in the south.

Biology

Found on upper continental slopes, on or near the bottom (Ref. 247). Feeds on fish and cephalopods (Ref. 6871). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 205), with 16- 28 young born at 27-30 cm (Ref. 26346). Caught in trawls or longlines set at depths greater than 400 m (Ref. 55584). Flesh is high in mercury (Ref. 6871). Utilized as fishmeal and source of squalene (liver oil) (Ref. 6871). Maximum depth from Ref. 55584.

Habitat

bathydemersal