Apristurus bucephalus, Bighead catshark

You can sponsor this page

Apristurus bucephalus White, Last & Pogonoski, 2008

Bighead catshark
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Apristurus bucephalus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
Google image
Image of Apristurus bucephalus (Bighead catshark)
No image available for this species;
drawing shows typical species in Pentanchidae.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks) > Pentanchidae (Deepwater catsharks)
Etymology: Apristurus: a-, Latin privative, i.e., without; pristis, from pristes (Gr.), sawyer (but here meaning saw); oura (Gr.), tail, referring to absence of saw-toothed crest of enlarged dermal denticles along upper edge of caudal fin as found in the closely related Pristiurus (=Galeus). (See ETYFish);  bucephalus: bu- (L.), prefix meaning large; cephalus, from kephale (Gr.), head, referring to its large, broad head. (See ETYFish).
More on authors: White, Last & Pogonoski.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; bathydemersal; depth range 1030 - 1140 m (Ref. 76944). Deep-water

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Indian Ocean: Western Australia.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 67.5 cm TL (female)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

This moderately-large species has the following characters: labial furrows of upper and lower subequal in length; relatively short preorbital snout; very robust head, its width (at mouth corners) 13.9% TL; large mouth, its width 11.1% TL; large orbit, its length 3.7% TL; relatively long length of prepectoral and prepelvic; first dorsal fin is slightly smaller than second one, its origin well forward of pelvic fin insertion; tall anal fin, short based, triangular in shape; widely spaced dermal denticles, moderately large, deciduous, with long medial cusps; species size to at least 67.5 cm TL; uniformly medium yellowish brown body and fins ; about 66 teeth rows in upper jaw, about 55 rows in lower jaw; adult female teeth with 5 cusps, 1 very long medial cusp, 2 much shorter inner lateral cusps, 2 much shorter outer lateral cusps situated anteriorly to inner lateral cusps; 35 monospondylous vertebrae; 26 diplospondylous precaudal vertebrae; about 108 total vertebrae (Ref. 76944).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

White, W.T., P.R. Last and J.J. Pogonoski, 2008. Apristurus bucephalus sp. nov., a new deepwater catshark (Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae) from southwestern Australia. pp. 105-111. In P.R. Last, W.T. White and J.J. Pogonoski (eds). Descriptions of new Australian chondrichthyans. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Paper no. 22. 365 p. (Ref. 76944)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Data deficient (DD) ; Date assessed: 17 February 2015

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Nutrients
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 3.2 - 4.9, mean 4.4 °C (based on 17 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00355 (0.00176 - 0.00714), b=3.09 (2.91 - 3.27), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.9   ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Fec assumed to be < 10).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (47 of 100).