10.26028/CYBIUM/2004-284-006
Iglésias, Samuel P.
Samuel P.
Iglésias
Nakaya, Kazuhiro
Kazuhiro
Nakaya
Stehmann, Matthias
Matthias
Stehmann
Apristurus melanoasper, a new species of deep-water catshark from the North Atlantic (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae)
Société Française d'Ichtyologie
2004
Article
AN, Apristurus melanoasper, mtDNA, New species, Scyliorhinidae
A new deep-water catshark, Apristurus melanoasper n. sp., is described based on 53 specimens from the North Atlantic Ocean at 512 to 1520 m depth. This new species is characterized by having longer upper labial furrow than the lower one, high count of spiral intestine valves, a long abdomen, large dermal denticles and black coloration of the body. Among the species of the North Atlantic, this new species is most similar to A. laurussonii, but is distinguishable by combination of the following characters: an interorbital space which is 1.9 to 3.5 times eyes horizontal diameter, interspace between pectoral fin tip and pelvic fin which is 1.3 to 2.5 times pectoral fin width, large dermal denticles giving very rough texture to the skin, and black body colouration. A mitochondrial DNA sequence of 1500 nucleotides of the species presents 28 differences when aligned with that of A. laurussonii.