Tropical sawshark
| Tropical sawshark | ||||||||||||
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Tropical sawshark ( Pristiophorus delicatus ) |
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| Pristiophorus delicatus | ||||||||||||
| Yearsley , Last & WT White , 2008 |
The tropical saw shark ( Pristiophorus delicatus ) is a shark from the family of saw sharks (Pristiophoridae). Like its relatives, the shark is characterized by a long saw-like snout, which makes up up to 31 percent of the body length of this species. It is only known from the coast of tropical northeastern Australia and was only described in 2008 .
features
The tropical saw shark reaches a length of 62 to 84 cm. The body is long, cylindrical and slim. The head is flattened and has a greatly elongated and flattened snout with a saw-like rostrum typical of saw sharks , which makes up between 29 and 31 percent of the body length of this species and is narrower than most other saw sharks. The rostrum has a distinctive pair of barbels that are a little closer to the mouth than the tip of the rostrum . In juvenile fish there are usually 2 to 3 smaller teeth between the large posterior teeth of the "saw".
The top of its body is a monochrome yellowish-brown, the underside is white or yellowish. The eyes are on the side of the head, behind them the large suction holes . Like other species of the genus, the sawshark has five gill slits . Like all saw sharks, it has two dorsal fins without a thorn and no anal fin. The caudal fin consists only of a large upper lobe while the lower lobe is absent in all sawsharks.
Way of life
The tropical saw shark is a ground shark that occurs in water depths between 246 and 400 meters. Hardly any data are available about its way of life; it probably feeds on various fish and other soil organisms in a predatory manner.
distribution
The Tropical Saw Shark lives off the coast of tropical, northeastern Australia ( Queensland ). Its habitat is located on the continental slope near the sea floor in water depths of 246 to 400 meters.
Danger
The Tropical Saw Shark is classified as not endangered ("least concern") in the IUCN Red List .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pristiophorus delicatus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Heupel, MR (SSG Australia & Oceania Regional Workshop, March 2003), 2003. Accessed August 10, 2011th
literature
- Leonard Compagno , Marc Dando, Sarah Fowler: Sharks of the World. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton University Press , Princeton and Oxford 2005; Pp. 133-134, ISBN 978-0-691-12072-0 .
- GK Yearsley, PR Last, WT White: A new species of sawshark, Pristiophorus delicatus sp. nov. (Pristiophoriformes: Pristiophoridae), from northeastern Australia. In: PR Last, WT White, JJ Pogonoski: Descriptions of New Australian Chondrichthyans. Hobart: CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research 2008.
Web links
- Tropical sawshark on Fishbase.org (English)