Somniosus antarcticus, Southern sleeper shark : fisheries

Somniosus antarcticus Whitley, 1939

Southern sleeper shark
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Somniosus antarcticus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Somniosus antarcticus (Southern sleeper shark)
Somniosus antarcticus
Picture by Reyes, P.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Squaliformes (Sleeper and dogfish sharks) > Somniosidae (Sleeper sharks)
Etymology: Somniosus: Latin for sleepy, reflecting Lesueur’s surmise that these sharks are slow or sluggish because of their relatively small fins (hence the name sleeper sharks) (See ETYFish); antarcticus: -icus (L.), belonging to: the Antarctic (Whitley presumed this to be the first shark recorded from there) (See ETYFish).
More on author: Whitley.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 485 - 1150 m (Ref. 50224). Deep-water

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

South Indo-Pacific and South Atlantic.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 438 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 50224); 430.0 cm TL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Vertebrae: 36 - 38. Somniosus antarcticus differs from S. pacificus by the following characters: interdorsal space about 80% of prebranchial length (vs. 70%); height of first dorsal fin about 3.0% of precaudal length (PCL) (vs. 3.7%); height of second dorsal fin about 2.9% of PCL (vs. 3.4%); number of turns in spiral valve 36-41 (mode 39) (vs. 32-37, mode 33); precaudal vertebrae 30-31 (mode 30) (vs. 28-30, mode 29) (Ref. 50224).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Yano, K., J.D. Stevens and L.J.V. Compagno, 2004. A review of the systematics of the sleeper shark genus Somniosus with redescriptions of Somniosus (Somniosus) antarcticus and Somniosus (Rhinoscymnus) longus (Squaliformes: Somniosidae). Ichthyol. Res. 51:360-373. (Ref. 50224)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 02 July 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: bycatch
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search |