Southern lanternshark

Taxobox
name = Southern lanternshark


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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Chondrichthyes
subclassis = Elasmobranchii
ordo = Squaliformes
familia = Dalatiidae
genus = "Etmopterus"
species = "E. granulosus"
range_

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range_map_caption = Range of the southern lanternshark (in blue)
binomial = "Etmopterus granulosus"
binomial_authority = (Günther, 1880)The southern lanternshark, "Etmopterus granulosus", is a shark of the family Dalatiidae found in the southeast Pacific from southern Chile, and the southwest Atlantic from the Falkland Islands, between latitudes 29° S and 59° S, at depths of between 220 and 1,460 m. Its length is up to 60 cm.

The southern lanternshark is a large, heavy-bodied lanternshark with a large head, bladelike unicuspidate teeth in the lower jaw and teeth with cusps and cusplets in the upper jaw. The body is stocky, with conspicuous lines of denticles on the body but only randomly on the head. The second dorsal fin is much larger than the first. It is found on the outermost continental shelves and upper slopes.

It feeds on bony fish, crabs, squid and deep-water shrimp.

Coloration is dark brown above, becoming black ventrally with conspicuous black markings on the underside of the body and tail, with tail markings short and not extending far posteriorly. Reproduction is ovoviviparous, with 10 to 13 pups in a litter, length at birth about 18 cm.

References

*
* Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, "Sharks of the World", Princeton University Press, New Jersey 2005 ISBN 0-691-12072-2