Author: Garman, 1884

Field Marks:
Eel-like shark with 6 gill slits, terminal mouth with tricuspid teeth in both jaws, and one dorsal fin.

Diagnostic Features:
Body slender and eel-like, with prominent keels on abdomen. Head with 6 pairs of gill slits, the lower ends of the first gill slits connected to each other across throat; snout extremely short, truncated; mouth terminal on head, very long; teethalike in upper and lower jaws, with three strong cusps and a pair of intermediate cusplets, not saw or bladelike, posterior teeth not minute and granular. Anal fin large, larger than dorsal fin; caudal fin without a subterminal notch.

Geographical Distribution:
Wide-ranging but spottily distributed. Eastern Atlantic: From northern Norway, the Atlantic Slope off northern Scotland and western Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania, Madeira, Angola, northern Namibia, and possibly the eastern Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Western Indian Ocean: Off South Africa. Western Pacific: Off Japan (southeastern Honshu), Australia (New South Wales), and New Zealand. Eastern Pacific. Southern California, USA, northern Chile.

Habitat and Biology:
Benthic on the outer continental and insular shelves and upper slopes, at depths usually between 120 and 1280 m, but occasionally taken at the surface.

A rare, little known deepwater shark. Ovoviviparous, number of young 8 to 12. Apparently reproduces all year in deep water off Japan; gestation period probably very long, one to two years. Feeding habits unknown, but the needle-sharp, slender-cusped teeth of this shark suggest feeding on deepwater cephalopods and bottom fishes. Not dangerous, but teeth can lacerate the hands of the unwary scientist examining its mouth.

Size:
Maximum 196 cm, size at birth about 39 cm; size at maturity about 97 cm for males and 135 cm for females.

Interest to Fisheries:
Of little importance, taken incidentally in bottom trawls catches, formerly caught with deepset longlines off Japan. Utilized for fishmeal and for human consumption.

Type material:
Holotype: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (MCZ). Type Locality: Japan, probably southeastern Honshu.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Chondrichthyes
Subclass Elasmobranchii
Superorder Squalomorphii
Order Hexanchiformes
Family Chlamydoselachidae
Genus Chlamydoselachus
Species Chlamydoselachus anguineus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Chlamydoselachus anguineus Garman, 1884

Scientific synonyms and common names

Chlamydoselachus anguineus Garman, 1884

Chlamydoselachus anguineus Garman, 1884, Bull.Essex Inst., 16:3, fig.

Synonymy: None.

FAO Names:
Frilled shark [English]
Requin lézard [French]
Tiburón anguila [Spanish]
CHLAM Chlam 1 [FAO Code]

Gudger, E.W. and B.G. Smith, 1933. The natural history of the frilled shark Chlamydoselachus anguineus. In The Bashford Dean memorial volume: archaic fishes. New York, American Museum of Natural History,pp. 245-319

Gudger, E.W., 1940. The breeding habits, reproductive organs and external embryonic development of Chlamydoselachus, based on notes and drawings by Bashford Dean. In Bashford Dean memorial volume archaicfishes. New York, American Museum of Natural History, vol. 5:243-319

Bass, A.J., J.D. D'Aubrey and N. Kistnasamy, 1975c. Sharks of the east coast of southern Africa. 5. The families Hexanchidae, Chlamydoselachidae, Heterodontidae, Pristiophoridae and Squatinidae. Invest.Rep.Oceanogr.Res.Inst., Durban, (43):50 p.

Cadenat, J. and J. Blache, 1981. Requins de Mediterranee et d'Atlantique. Faune Trop.ORSTOM, 21:330 p.

Compagno, L.J.V., 1981a. Sharks. In FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Central Atlantic. Fishing Areas 34,47 (in part), edited by W. Fischer, G. Bianchi and W.B. Scott. Ottawa, Departmentof Fisheries and Oceans, by arrangement with FAO, Vol. 5:Pag.var.

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