Rough-skinned dogfish
| Rough-skinned dogfish | ||||||||||||
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Rough-skin dogfish ( Cirrhigaleus asper ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Cirrhigaleus asper | ||||||||||||
| ( Merrett , 1973) |
The rough-skinned dogfish ( Cirrhigaleus asper ) is one of the three species of the genus Cirrhigaleus within the dogfish (Squalidae). The distribution area of this species includes several separate areas in the western Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa , in the central Pacific as well as in the Gulf of Mexico and off the southern Brazilian coast.
Appearance and characteristics
The rough-skinned dogfish is a medium-sized shark with a known maximum length of 118 centimeters. He has a stocky body with a broad, flat head. The two short barbels that start at the nostrils and extend to the mouth are noticeable .
He has a gray-brown back color and a white belly, the skin is very coarse compared to other sharks. The rear edges of all fins are white without any further drawing. They can only be confused with the Mandarin Schnauz Dogfish ( C. barbatus ) and the Southern Mandarin Schnauz Dogfish ( C. australis ), which, however, have significantly longer whiskers and are found mainly off the coasts of New Zealand, Eastern Australia and Southern Japan.
It has no anal fin and two dorsal fins with the order-typical spines in front of the dorsal fins. The first dorsal fin begins behind the end of the pectoral fins and is slightly larger than the second dorsal fin. The pectoral fins are large and broadly triangular. Like all kinds of order, the animals have five gill slits and a spray hole behind the eye.
distribution
The distribution area of this species includes several separate areas in the western Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa , in the central Pacific as well as in the Gulf of Mexico and off the southern Brazilian coast.
Way of life
The rough-skin dogfish lives near the coast above the continental shelf and occurs at depths of 70 to 600 meters. It probably lives mostly near the ground or directly on the sea floor. It is seldom found in bays and estuaries. It feeds on small bony fish and mollusks such as octopus, and the barbels are believed to contain chemoreceptors used to track down prey. It is harmless to humans.
Like other species of order, it is viviparous, with the mother giving birth to 18 to 22 young sharks. The sharks reach sexual maturity with a length of 85 to 110 centimeters.
Danger
The rough-skinned dogfish is included in the IUCN Red List as "data deficient", so there is too little data available for a risk assessment. It is not fished commercially and is therefore only caught as by-catch .
supporting documents
- ↑ cirrhigaleus asper in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Herndon, AP & Burgess, GH, 2006. Retrieved on 8 November, 2008.
literature
- Leonard Compagno , Marc Dando, Sarah Fowler: Princeton Field Guides: Sharks of the World . Princeton University Press , Princeton and Oxford 2005, ISBN 978-0-691-12072-0 , pp. 71-73 .
Web links
- Rough-skinned dogfish on Fishbase.org (English)