Fish Identification: Find Family

Families of bullhead and horn sharks

n = 1

Glossary

Heterodontidae
Heterodontidae - (Bullhead, horn, or Port Jackson sharks)

Distribution: In warm-temperate and tropical continental waters of the western Indian Ocean and western and eastern Pacific; absent from the Atlantic and from oceanic insular waters. Two dorsal fins, each with a spine. Only living sharks with two spined dorsal fins and anal fin present. Five pairs of gill slits; eyes without nictitating fold; small spiracles present; nostrils connected with mouth by deep groove. Small species (max 165 cm) with small mouth; anterior teeth small and cuspidate, posterior enlarged and molariform; snout very short and bluntly rounded. Sluggish nocturnal bottom sharks, mainly in shallow waters. Benthos feeder. Oviparous, producing eggs in unique, large, spiral-flanged egg cases.


Note: Families with unknown counts of dorsal or anal spines are also included