Roughskin catshark
Species of shark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The roughskin catshark (Apristurus ampliceps) is a species of catshark in the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. This species is found near Australia and New Zealand.[2][3] Its natural habitat is the open seas.[2] This species belongs to a genus of poorly known deep-water catsharks.
| Roughskin catshark | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Division: | Selachii |
| Order: | Carcharhiniformes |
| Family: | Pentanchidae |
| Genus: | Apristurus |
| Species: | A. ampliceps |
| Binomial name | |
| Apristurus ampliceps | |
This species was first described in 2008 by Ryohei Sasahara, Keiichi Sato & Kazuhiro Nakaya.[2][4]
Very little is known of its biology.[5] This species is known to occur in deep water (840 to 1,380 m) off New Zealand, sporadic sites around Tasmania, and a small area of Western Australia.[2] Some concern exists for this species, as its distribution includes some heavily fished areas. Deep-water demersal trawl fisheries are expanding in the region, and assuming its biology is like other deep-water shark species, it may not be sufficiently fecund to withstand the exploitation pressure.
Conservation status
The New Zealand Department of Conservation has classified the roughskin catshark as "Data deficient" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.[6]
