Velvet dogfish

Velvet dogfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Somniosidae
Genus: Zameus
D. S. Jordan & Fowler, 1903
Species: Z. squamulosus
Binomial name
Zameus squamulosus
(Günther, 1877)
Range of the velvet dogfish
Synonyms
  • Centrophorus squamulosus Günther, 1877
  • Scymnodon obscurus Vaillant, 1888
  • Scymnodon niger Chu & Meng, 1982
  • Scymnodon squamulosus Günther, 1877

The velvet dogfish, Zameus squamulosus, the only member of the genus Zameus, is a harmless sleeper shark of the family Somniosidae, found around the world between latitudes 64°N and 48°S, from the surface to 2,000 m. Its length is up to 84 cm.[1] Although sharks within the family Somniosidae have generally been accepted to be non-luminous, Zameus squamulosus has photophores on its ventral epidermis. [2]

Reproduction is ovoviviparous.

References

  1. White, W.T., Vaz, D.F.B., Ho, H.-C., Ebert, D.A., Carvalho, M.R.d., Corrigan, S., Rochel, E., Carvalho, M.d., Tanaka, S. & Naylor, G.J.P. (2014): Redescription of Scymnodon ichiharai Yano and Tanaka 1984 (Squaliformes: Somniosidae) from the western North Pacific, with comments on the definition of somniosid genera. Ichthyological Research, 62 (2): 213-229.
  2. Straube, N.; Chenhong, L.; Claes, J.M.; Corrigan, S.; Naylor, G.J.P. (2015). "Molecular phylogeny of squaliforms and first occurrence of bioluminescence in sharks". Evolutionary Biology. 15. doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0446-6.
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