Southern sleeper shark

Southern sleeper shark
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Chondrichthyes
Order:Squaliformes
Family:Somniosidae
Genus:Somniosus
Species: S. antarcticus
Binomial name
Somniosus antarcticus
Range (in blue)

The southern sleeper shark or Whitley's sleeper shark (Somniosus antarcticus) is a deepwater benthopelagic sleeper shark of the family Somniosidae found in the southern Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans.[1] It is known from depths of 400 to 1,100 m.[1][3] Its length is up to 4.4 m (14 ft).[3] It feeds primarily on cephalopods, especially the colossal squid, and fish; its stomach contents also less commonly contain remains of marine mammals and birds.[1] Based on its generally sluggish nature and the speed of its prey, it is thought to be an ambush predator.[1] A 3.6-m-long female caught off the coast of Chile had a whole southern right whale dolphin in its stomach. This dogfish is sometimes taken as bycatch in the orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish fisheries; whether this poses a threat to the species is currently unknown.[1]

This fish was formerly sometimes viewed as conspecific with either the Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus, or the Pacific sleeper shark, Somniosus pacifius. However, it was shown in 2004 to be a distinct species.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stevens, J. (SSG Australia & Oceania Regional Workshop, March 2003) (2003). "Somniosus antarcticus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2003: e.T41857A10580843. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T41857A10580843.en. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Whitley, Gilbert P. (1939). "Taxonomic Notes on Sharks and Rays". The Australian Zoologist. 9 (3): 242.
  3. 1 2 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2012). "Somniosus antarcticus" in FishBase. February 2012 version.
  4. ↑ Yano, Kazunari; Stevens, John D.; Compagno, Leonard J. V. (2004). "A review of the systematics of the sleeper shark genus Somniosus with redescriptions of Somniosus (Somniosus) antarcticus and Somniosus (Rhinoscymnus) longus (Squaliformes: Somniosidae)". Ichthyological Research. 51 (4): 360–73. doi:10.1007/s10228-004-0244-4.
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