Description: A small deepwater shark with an extremely long, flat snout, and huge iridescent green or yellow eyes. Rough skin covered in denticles. Very long and low first dorsal fin. Spines on the dorsal fins, second one much larger than the first. Similar to Deania profundorum, but without a subcaudal keel on caudal peduncle, and may be larger. No anal fin. Grey or brown in colour, with darker fins.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic: Iceland along Atlantic slope to South Africa. Eastern and Western (but possibly not Central) Pacific. View Map
Depth range: FishBase: 60 - 1490 m, usually 400 - 1400 m.
Habitat: Bathydemersal. Found on the outer continental and insular shelves and upper slopes. Usually on or near the bottom but sometimes found well above it.
Feeding habits: Feeds on pelagic bony fish, squid, octopus and shrimp.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.2
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Minor commercial species. By-catch of the longline black scabbardfish fishery in Madeira.
Conservation status: Global: Least concern.
Northeast Atlantic: Vulnerable.
Europe: Endangered.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 104.6 kcal (5.2% DRV)
protein 22.6 g (45.2% DRV)
fat 0.90 g (1.3% DRV)
REFERENCES
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Ebert D.A., Stehmann M.F.W. (2013). Sharks, batoids, and chimaeras of the North Atlantic. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes, No. 7. FAO, Rome, 523 pp.
Gibson C., Valenti S.V., Fordham S.V., Fowler S.L. (2008). The Conservation of Northeast Atlantic Chondrichthyans: Repost of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Northeast Atlantic Red List Workshop. IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Groups, NatureBureau, Newbury, UK, 76 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
Økland H.M.W., Stoknes I.S., Remme J.F., Kjerstad M., Synnes M. (2005). Proximate composition, fatty acid and lipid class composition of the muscle from deep-sea teleosts and elasmobranchs. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B, 140: 437-443.
Rosa A., Menezes G., Melo O., Pinho M.R. (2006). Weight–length relationships of 33 demersal fish species from Azores archipelago. Fisheries Research, 80(2): 329-332.
