Eastern angel shark
| Eastern angel shark | ||||||||||||
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| Squatina albipunctata | ||||||||||||
| Last & WT White , 2008 |
The eastern angel shark ( Squatina albipunctata ) is a species of angel shark that is endemic in the waters off eastern Australia .
features
The eastern angel shark is a medium-sized angel shark that reaches a body length of up to 132 cm. While the females reach a weight of 20 kg with a total length (TL) of 130 cm, the smaller males weigh 8 kg with a total length of 110 cm. Its yellow to chocolate brown dorsal side of the body is densely marked with small and dark-edged, white and brown spots. The snout is very short and the area between the eyes is concave. The species differs from the Australian angel shark ( Squatina australis ) in that the eyes are clearly thorny. The barbels have drawn tips and are fingered, the head folds are flat. The injection holes are close to the eyes and are wider than the length of an eye.
As with other angel sharks , the head and body are flattened, the pectoral fins wide and very fleshy at the base, and the pelvic fins elongated. Both dorsal fins are the same size and are close together. With the eyes and breathing holes on the dorsal side of the body, the eastern angel shark resembles a ray . The number of vertebrae is 134 to 139.
distribution
The Eastern Angel Shark is endemic to the waters off Eastern Australia. It can be found in front of Lakes Entrance , Victoria , along the coast from New South Wales to Cairns in northern Queensland . Presumably the population in the northern species area is lower than in the central and southern distribution area.
Habitat and way of life
The eastern angel shark inhabits the continental shelf and the upper continental slope at a depth of 35 to 415 m. It feeds on fish and crustaceans , but little is known about the habitat requirements of the bottom-dwelling species.
The eastern angel shark gives birth to 10 to 13 live young per litter, according to other sources up to 20 young animals with a total length of about 27 to 30 cm ( TL ).
Danger
In the southern half of its range, the eastern angel shark is a bycatch in trawling . Its meat is tasty and is marketed as angel shark, fish fillet or monkfish. Due to the trawling at the current level, the stock will remain comparatively low. The species is classified as endangered (vulnerable, vu) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
Systematics
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Phylogenetic systematics of angel sharks
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The eastern angel shark was first scientifically described in 2008 by Peter R. Last and William T. White in the Zootaxa together with the western angel shark ( Squatina pseudocellata ) and the Indonesian angel shark ( Squatina legnota ) . Previously it was already described in 2005 as the species Sqatina sp. A in the book Sharks of the World by Leonard Compagno et al. (2005) included.
On the basis of a molecular biological investigation of the angel sharks it could be shown that together with the three other angel sharks described on the Australian coasts it forms a taxon that probably split off from the African angel shark ( Squatina africana ) in the Cretaceous about 80 million years ago . Within this taxon, the eastern angel shark is compared to the other three species as the most original species.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Lee K. Curtis et al. : Queensland's Threatened Animals. Csiro Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-0643096141 , p. 58. ( Google Books )
- ↑ a b c Squatina albipunctata in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012.2. Listed by: J. Pogonoski, D. Pollard, 2003. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
- ^ A b c d Leonard Compagno, Marc Dando, Sarah Fowler: Sharks of the World . Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2005, p. 148. ISBN 978-0-691-12072-0 .
- ↑ Eastern Angel Shark on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ a b Björn Stelbrink, Thomas von Rintelen, Geremy Cliff, Jürgen Kriwet: Molecular systematics and global phylogeography of angel sharks (genus Squatina). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54, 2010; Pp. 395-404. ( Full text ; PDF; 403 kB)
- ^ PR Last, WT White: Three new angel sharks (Chondrichthyes: Squatinidae) from the Indo-Australian region. Zootaxa 1734: 1-26. ( Abstract ; PDF; 13 kB)
literature
- Leonard Compagno, Marc Dando, Sarah Fowler: Sharks of the World . Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2005, p. 148. ISBN 978-0-691-12072-0
- Lee K. Curtis et al. : Queensland's Threatened Animals. Csiro Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-0643096141 , p. 58. ( Google Books )
Web links
- Squatina albipunctata inthe IUCN 2012 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: J. Pogonoski, D. Pollard, 2003. Retrieved April 7, 2013.