Knifetooth dogfish

Taxobox
name = Knifetooth dogfish
status =
trend =

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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Chondrichthyes
subclassis = Elasmobranchii
ordo = Squaliformes
familia = Dalatiidae
genus = "Scymnodon"
species = "S. ringens"
range_

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range_map_width = 200px
range_map_caption = Range of the knifetooth velvet dogfish (in blue)
binomial = "Scymnodon ringens"
binomial_authority = Barbosa du Bocage & Brito Capello, 1864The knifetooth dogfish, "Scymnodon ringens", is a harmless sleeper shark of the family Dalatiidae, found in the eastern Atlantic, from Scotland to Spain, Portugal, and Senegal, and the southwest Pacific from New Zealand, between latitudes 58° N and 15° N, at depths of between 200 and 1,600 m. Its length is up to 1.1 m.

The knifetooth dogfish is a rare species inhabiting continental slopes, usually mesopelagic although taken most often near the bottom. It is black in color, with small dorsal fin spines, and a short snout. There are small lanceolate teeth without cusplets in the upper jaw and huge high, knife-cusped cutting teeth in the lower jaw - its razor-edged lower teeth is used to attack and dismember large prey. The mouth is very wide and broadly arched, and the caudal fin has a weak subterminal notch and no lower lobe.

Its flesh is utilized dried salted for human consumption and for fishmeal.

Reproduction is ovoviviparous.

References

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