African lanternshark

Taxobox
name = African lanternshark


image_caption =
status = DD | status_system = IUCN3.1
trend =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Chondrichthyes
subclassis = Elasmobranchii
ordo = Squaliformes
familia = Dalatiidae
genus = "Etmopterus"
species = "E. polli"
range_

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range_map_width = 200px
range_map_caption = Range of the African lanternshark (in blue)
binomial = "Etmopterus polli"
binomial_authority = Bigelow, Schroeder & Springer, 1953The African lanternshark, "Etmopterus polli", is a shark of the family Dalatiidae found in the eastern Atlantic from Guinea to Côte d'Ivoire, and from Nigeria to Angola, between latitudes 12° N and 18° S, at depths of between 300 and 1,000 m. Its length is up to 30 cm.

The African lanternshark is a fairly stout lanternshark with a long tail, and wide-spaced denticles on the body not in rows.The two dorsal fins are about equal in size. It is found on the upper continental shelves.

Coloration is dark grey with blackish undersides, and a conspicuous broad black mark running above, ahead, and behind the pelvic fins, and other marks on the tail base and upper lobe. Reproduction is ovoviviparous.

References

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