Author: (Müller and Henle, 1839)
Field Marks:
A small slender grey shark with a long narrowly rounded or somewhat pointed snout, fairly large eyes, oblique-cusped smooth-edged upper anterolateral teeth with strong proximal and distal cusplets, no interdorsal ridge, small pectoral fins, a small first dorsal with an extremely long rear tip, a small low second dorsal with a long rear tip, and no conspicuous markings on fins. Also, this is the only member of its genus witha hypercalcified rostrum, which can easily be felt by pinching its snout.
Diagnostic Features:
A small, slender species (length to less than 1 m). Snout long and narrowly rounded or slightly pointed; internarial width 1.5 to 1.9 times in preoral length; eyes circular and moderately large, their length 1.8 to 2.5% of total length; anterior nasal flaps expanded as a narrow nipple-shaped lobe; upper labial furrows short and inconspicuous; hyomandibular lineof pores just behind mouth corners not conspicuously enlarged; gill slits short, third 2.8 to 3.5% of total length and about a third of first dorsal base; about 13 to 14/10 to 14 rows of anteroposterior teeth in each jaw half; upper teeth with narrow, entirely smooth, mostly oblique or semioblique, moderately high cusps, and crown feet with strong distal and proximal cusplets but no serrations; lower teeth with oblique, moderately high smooth cusps and transverse roots. No interdorsal ridge. First dorsal fin moderate-sized and falcate, with a pointed or narrowly rounded apex and posterior margin curving ventrally from fin apex; origin of first dorsal fin usually over or somewhatwanterior to the pectoral free rear tips; inner margin of first dorsal extremely long, about two-thirds of dorsal base; second dorsal fin small and low, its height 1.8 to 2% of total length, its inner margin elongated and 2.3 to 2.4 times its height; origin of second dorsal well behind anal origin, near anal midbase; pectoral fins small, falcate, with narrowly rounded or pointed apices, length of anterior margins about 14 to 16% of total length; 151 to 156 total vertebral centra. Colour grey or grey-brown above, white below, fins with light edges but not conspicuously marked; light flank marks not conspicuous.
Geographical Distribution:
Indo-West Pacific: Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Sea, Burma, Viet Nam, China (including Taiwan Province), New Guinea.
Habitat and Biology:
A small, common but little-known inshore shark of the continental and insular shelves.
In Bombay waters over 95% of the individuals caught are males, the rest females, indicating strong sexual segregation within its populations.
Viviparous, with a yolk-sac placenta; number of young 1 or 2 (usually 2) to a litter.
Probably feeds on small fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans, but diet apparently not reported.
Size:
Maximum size probably below 100 cm, adult males maturing at about 69 cm and reaching 81 cm, adult females 76 to 89 cm; size at birth 45 to 50 cm.
Interest to Fisheries:
Apparently regularly caught off Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and China; caught by gillnet and by line gear, and utilized fresh and probably dried salted for human consumption.
Type material:
Holotype: Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, adult male. Type Locality: New Guinea. |
