Gray smooth shark
| Gray smooth shark | ||||||||||||
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Gray smooth shark ( Mustelus mustelus ) |
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| Mustelus mustelus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The gray or common smooth shark ( Mustelus mustelus ) is a shark from the order of the basic sharks (Carcharhiniformes) that grows to a maximum of 1.65 meters . It lives close to the coast in the eastern Atlantic from the British Isles to South Africa , in the southern North Sea and in the Mediterranean at depths of five to 350 meters, in the eastern Ionian Sea up to 650 meters.
features
Gray sharks are slender, the underside of the head is flat, the eyes are near the top. The teeth are small and single-pointed, those of the newborn have small adjacent points. The first large dorsal fin attaches over the free rear ends of the broad, triangular, and relatively small pectoral fins . The second dorsal fin is a little smaller, the even smaller anal fin begins a little behind it . The five gill slits are short, the attachment of the pectoral fins begins under the 4th and 5th gill slits.
The sharks are mostly monochrome gray-brown on top, and there are seldom dark spots. The underside is white. The underside of the pectoral fins is light gray and becomes whitish towards the base of the pectoral fin.
Way of life
Gray sharks are active swimmers who live individually, but also in large groups, often arranged according to body length. They are mainly close to the ground over shelf areas and continental slopes . Their food spectrum mainly includes crustaceans , but also molluscs , echinoderms , worms and small fish.
The sharks are viviparous . The fry are fed on a yolk sac placenta in the womb. After a gestation period of ten to eleven months, ten to 15 young fish are born, which are 30 centimeters long at birth and reach sexual maturity with a size of 70 to 80 centimeters.
literature
- Alessandro de Maddalena, Harald Bänsch: Sharks in the Mediterranean. Kosmos, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-440-10458-3 .
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
Web links
- Gray Shark on Fishbase.org (English)
- Mustelus mustelus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Ellis, J., 2000. Accessed August 26 of 2006.