Plunket shark
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 Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
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| Centroscymnus plunketi (Waite, 1910) |
The plunket shark, Centroscymnus plunketi, is a sleeper shark of the family Dalatiidae, found around south eastern Australia, and New Zealand, at depths of between 220 and 1,550 m over continental shelves. It reaches a length of 130 cm.
The plunket shark has two dorsal fins of approximately equal size and shape, with a small spine in front of each. It has a very short snout, lanceolate upper teeth and bladelike lower teeth with short, oblique cusps, and a stocky body that tapers abruptly from the pectoral region. The dermal denticles are moderately large with triple cusps and ridges in adults and subadults.
The plunket shark occurs in large schools near the bottom which are segregated according to size and sex, and feeds on cephalopods and bony fishes. It is ovoviviparous, with up to 36 pups in a litter.
[edit] References
- "Centroscymnus plunketi". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
