Species Kingdom

Animalia

Species Class

Species Order

Etmopterus gracilispinis Krefft, 1968

Description

Dorsal spines (total): 2; Anal spines: 0. A stout lanternshark with a short tail and small conical denticles, not forming conspicuous lines along the body (Ref. 5578). Brown above, becoming black ventrally with inconspicuous, elongated, broad black marks along the caudal fin and at its base (Ref. 5578).

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Elasmobranchii

Order: Squaliformes

Family: Etmopteridae

Genus: Etmopterus

Species: Etmopterus gracilispinis Krefft, 1968

Climate Zone

oceanic

Location

Western Atlantic: Virginia and Florida (USA), Uruguay and Argentina; reported off Suriname (Ref. 13608) and Brazil (Ref. 57911). Southeast Atlantic: off the eastern Cape and northern Natal in South Africa (Ref. 11228). Some reports of this species from the southeast Atlantic may be misidentifications of the recently described Etmopterus compagnoi (Ref. 36731).

Biology

Found on outer continental shelves and upper slopes on or near the bottom at depths of 100 to 1,000 m; also pelagic at depths of 70 to 480 m over water 2,240 m deep off Argentina (Ref. 247). Feeds on bony fish, octopus, squid and deep-water shrimp (Ref. 5578). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 205).

Habitat

oceanic