Centrophorus granulosus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Gulper shark
Centrophorus granulosus
photo by Murch, A.

Family:  Centrophoridae (Gulper sharks)
Max. size:  170 cm TL (male/unsexed); 145.5 cm TL (female)
Environment:  bathydemersal; marine; depth range 50 - 1500 m
Distribution:  Eastern Atlantic: France to South Africa, including the Mediterranean (Ref. 31367). Western Central Atlantic: northern Gulf of Mexico (Ref. 247, 6871). Indian Ocean: Mozambique, South Africa and the Aldabra Islands (Ref. 31367); Western Australia (Ref. 6871). Western Pacific: Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Australia (Ref. 31367). Not in the Eastern Pacific (Ref. 94782).
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 2-2; Dorsal soft rays (total): 0-0; Anal spines: 0-0; Anal soft rays: 0-0. Light grayish brown dorsally, paler ventrally; eyes greenish (Ref. 6871). Adults with tips of dorsal fins dusky, not prominently marked (Ref. 31367).
Biology:  A common deepwater dogfish of the outer continental shelves and upper slopes, commonest below 200 m (Ref. 247); usually benthic and epibenthic at depths from 50-1440 m with most records from 200-600 m (Compagno, pers. comm. 07/07). Solitary (Ref. 26340). Adults feed mainly on bony fishes such as hake, epigonids, lanternfish, herring, smelts, cods, rattails, squid and crustaceans (Ref. 247, IUCN workshop 07/07). Males mature at about 105-118 cm TL (Ref. 94782). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 50449). Number of litter recorded, one in Mediterranean females, and possibly 1 or 2 for the species. This species is fished in Eastern Atlantic by bottom trawls, long lines, fixed bottom nets, hook and line and pelagic trawls; caught and discarded, or utilised from by-catch fisheries (IUCN discussion 07/07). Marketed smoked and dried salted for human consumption; also processed into fishmeal and a source of liver oil for squalene (Ref. 247). Maximum depth from Ref. 125614.
IUCN Red List Status: Endangered (EN); Date assessed: 21 November 2019 (A2bd) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


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