Author: (Vaillant, 1888)

Scymnodon obscurus (Vaillant, 1888)

Diagnosis: snout long, slightly more than mouth breadth, narrowing at nostrils to ovate tip; inter-nostril distance greater than distance from snout tip to line between inner corner of nostrils; pre-oral clefts extend one-third distance to symphysis, and posteriorly halfway to first gill-slit; upper labial furrows extend halfway, lower labial furrows one-third way to their respective symphyses. Upper teeth erect, lanceolate; lower teeth triangular, first two or three erect to oblique, remainder strongly oblique. Gill openings short, 1 4 approximately equal in length, fifth longer. First dorsal fin origin behind appressed pectoral, spine barely exposed and short; second dorsal fin larger than first, free tip well in advance of caudal origin; caudal fin broad, upper tip truncate, sub-terminal notch distinct lower lobe well defined. Denticles with 5-7 transverse ridges. Colour: uniformly brown. Size: mature at 50 cm.

Habitat: benthic to mesopelagic, deeper than 200 m. Food: ?fishes. Reproduction: no data.

Distribution: Madeira and Morocco to Iceland. Elsewhere, off Brazil and off south-east Africa.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Chondrichthyes
Superorder Pleurotremata
Family Squalidae
Genus Scymnodon
Species Scymnodon obscurus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Scymnodon obscurus (Vaillant, 1888)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Scymnodon obscurus (Vaillant, 1888)

Synonyms:

Scymnodon obscurus (Vaillant. 1888)
Centroscymnus obscurus Vaillant, 1888, Expéd. scient. 'Travailleur' et 'Talisman', Poiss.: 67-68, pl . II (fig. 2, 2 a-2e) ('côtes du Soudan'). Holotype: MNHN no. 84388 .
Centroscymnus obscurus: Regan, 1908: 50 Maul, 1948, in Noronha & Sarmento: 139 Kotthaus, 1953: 197, fig. 1B, 2B, 3B Albuquerque, 1954-1956: 127-128.
Scymnodon ringens, part.: Garman, 1913: 208 Fowler, 1936: 77.
Scymnodon ringens (non Bocage & Capello): Brandes et al., 1954: 45 Wheeler, 1969: 65.
Scymnodon obscurus: Bigelow & Schroeder, 1957: 97-101, fig. 13F-13H Blache et al., 1970: 37, fig. 75 Ledoux, 1970: 351-352.


Common names:

Smalltooth velvet dogfish [En]
Squale-grogneur a queue echancree [Fr]

Albuquerque, R. M. 1954-1956. Peixes de Portugal e ilhas adjacentes. Chavas para a sua determinação. Port. Acta biol., ser. B,5:xvi+1167 p., 445 fig.

Bigelow, H. B.; Schroeder, W. C. 1957. A study of the sharks of the suborder Squaloidea. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 117 (1) :1-150, fig. 1-16, pl. IIV.

Blache, J.; Cadenat, J.; Stauch, A. 1970. Clés de détermination des poissons de mer signalés dans l'Atlantique Oriental (entre le 20e parallèle N. et le l5e parallèle S.). Faune tropicale, 18: 479 p., 1152 fig.

Brandes, C. H.; Kotthaus, A.; Krefft, G. 1954. Rare fishes. German records. Annls biol, Copenh., 10,1953: 44-45.

Fowler, H. W.1936. The Marine Fishes of West Africa, based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition 1909-15. Bull. am. Mus. nat. Hist., 70 (1), Jan. 21, 1936: vii+606 p., fig. 1-275; (2), Nov. 18,1936: 607-1493, fig. 276-567.

Garman, S. 1913. The Plagiostomia (Sharks, Skates, and Rays). Mem. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 36: xiii+528 p., 77 pl.

Kotthaus, A.1953b. Drei seltene Hamsche vom Rosengarten. Fischwirtschaft, 5 (8) :196-197, fig. 1-3.

Ledoux, J. C. 1970. Les dents des Squalidés de la Méditerranée occidentale et de l'Atlantique Nord-ouest africain. Vie Milieu, 21 (2A): 309-362, 21 fig.

Noronha, A. C. di; Sarmento, A. A. 1948. Vertebrados da Madeira. Funchal, Junta Gen. Distr. Aut., 2:181 p.

Regan, C. T.1908c. A synopsis of sharks of the family Squalidae. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (8) 2: 39-57.

Vaillant, L. 1888. Poissons in Expéditions scientifiques du 'Travailleur' et du 'Talisman' pendant les années 1880-83. Masson, Paris, 406 p., 28 pl.

Wheeler, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. Macmillan, London, Melbourne and Toronto: i-xvii+1-163, 5+177 fig., +392 fig. (princ. sp.)+92 n. num. fig., 16 pl., maps.

No distribution map was available at OBIS the last time we checked. Retry now.

For further info about Scymnodon obscurus, you can also look up this species under:

You can continue searching for Scymnodon obscurus on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia