Longnose pygmy shark
| Longnose pygmy shark | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Squaliformes |
| Family: | Dalatiidae |
| Genus: |
Heteroscymnoides Fowler, 1934 |
| Species: | H. marleyi |
| Binomial name | |
|
Heteroscymnoides marleyi Fowler, 1934 |
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| Range of the longnose pygmy shark | |
The longnose pygmy shark (Heteroscymnoides marleyi) is a rare species of dogfish shark in the family Dalatiidae and the only member its genus. It is known only from a handful of specimens collected from the cold oceanic waters of the Southern Hemisphere, between the surface and a depth of 502 m (1,647 ft). Reaching 37 cm (15 in) in length, this diminutive shark is characterized by a slender, dark brown body with a very long, bulbous snout. In addition, it has two spineless dorsal fins of nearly equal size, with the origin of the first lying over the pectoral fin bases. The longnose pygmy shark does not appear substantially threatened by fisheries, and has been assessed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The longnose pygmy shark was described by American zoologist Henry Weed Fowler in a 1934 volume of Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, based on a 13 cm (5.1 in) long female collected off Point Ocean Beach in Durban, South Africa. Fowler had originally thought the shark to belong to the genus Heteroscymnus (a junior synonym of Somniosus), and thus he created for it the new genus Heteroscymnoides from the Greek oidos ("resemblance"). He gave it the specific epithet marleyi in honor of Harold Walter Bell-Marley, and his contributions to the study of South African fishes. The relationship between Heteroscymnoides and the rest of its family is uncertain.
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