Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5244 No. 1: 16 Feb. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-02-16
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5244.1.4
Page range: 51-60
Abstract views: 378
PDF downloaded: 37

Occurrence of the milk-eye catshark Apristurus nakayai (Carcharhiniformes: Pentanchidae) from the South China Sea

Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan
Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan. George Chen Shark Research Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan. Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan. George Chen Shark Research Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
Chondrichthyes taxonomy northwestern Pacific Apristurus brunneus group morphology Pisces

Abstract

The milk-eye catshark Apristurus nakayai Iglésias, 2012 was known from three specimens in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Six specimens were recently collected from the South China Sea. It belongs to the brunneus group, and superficially resembles A. platyrhynchus Tanaka, 1909. Apristurus nakayai differs from A. platyrhynchus by the following characters: iris shiny white when fresh; body brownish black to black; second dorsal-fin insertion above or slightly in front of the anal-fin insertion; denticles absent inside mouth; and maturing at about 400 mm TL in both sexes. The occurrence of Apristurus nakayai from the South China Sea represents the first record in the northern Hemisphere, and a substantial distributional range extension (ca. 4665 km).

References

  1. Chu, Y.T., Meng, Q.W. & Li, S. (1986) Description of four new species of the genus Apristurus (Scyliorhinidae) from deep waters of the South China Sea. Oceanologicaet Limnologia Sinica, 17 (4), 269–275. [in Chinese]

  2. Chu, Y.T., Meng, Q.W., Hu, A.S. & Li, S. (1981) Description of four new species, a new genus and a new family of elasmobranchiate fishes from deep sea of the South China Sea. Oceanologica et Limnologia Sinica, 12, 103–116.

  3. Cordova, J.A. & Ebert, D.A. (2021) Apristurus manocheriani (Carcharhiniformes: Pentanchidae), a new species of catshark from the Southwest Indian Ocean. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 38, 13–26. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5081131

  4. Deng, S.M., Xiong, G.Q. & Zhan, H.X. (1988) 14. Apristurus internatus Deng, Xion et Zhan. In: The deep water fishes of the East China Sea. Xue Lin Publishing House, Shanghai, pp. 32–33.

  5. Ebert, D.A., Dando, M. & Fowler, S. (2021) Sharks of the World: A complete guide. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 607 pp. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691210872

  6. Garman, S. (1913) The Plagiostomia (sharks, skates and rays). Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, 36, 1–528, 77 pls.

  7. Iglésias, S.P. (2012) Apristurus nakayai sp. nov., a new species of deepwater catshark (Chondrichthyes: Pentanchidae) from New Caledonia. Cybium, 36 (4), 511–519.

  8. Iglésias, S.P., Nakaya, K. & Stehmann, M. (2004) Apristurus melanoasper, a new species of deep-water catshark from the North Atlantic (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae). Cybium, 28 (4), 345–356.

  9. Nakaya, K. & Kawauchi, J. (2013) A review of the genus Apristurus (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae) from Taiwanese waters. Zootaxa, 3752 (1), 130–171. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3752.1.9

  10. Meng, Q.W., Chu, Y.D. & Li, S. (1985) Description of four new species of Scyliorhinidae from depths of the South China Sea. Oceanologica et Limnologia Sinica, 16 (1), 43–50. [in Chinese]

  11. Nakaya, K. (1975) Taxonomy, comparative anatomy and phylogeny of Japanese catsharks, Scyliorhinidae. Memoirs of the Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University, 23, 1–94.

  12. Nakaya, K. & Sato, K. (1999) Species grouping within the genus Apristurus (Elasmobranchii, Scyliorhinidae). In: Séret, B. & Sire, J.Y. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, Nouméa. Société Française d’Ichtyologie & Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Paris, pp. 307–320.

  13. Nakaya, K., Sato, K., Iglésias, S.P. & White, W.T. (2008) Methodology for the taxonomic description of members of the genus Apristurus (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae). In: Last, P.R., White, W.T. & Pogonoski, J.J. (Eds.), Descriptions of new Australian chondrichthyans. CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research Paper, No. 022, pp. 49–60.

  14. Sato, K., Nakaya, K. & Stewart, A.L. (1999) A new species of the deep-water catshark genus Apristurus from New Zealand waters (Chondrichthyes: Scyliorhinidae). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 29 (4), 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.1999.9517601

  15. Tanaka, S. (1909) Descriptions of one new genus and ten new species of Japanese fishes. Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University of Tokyo, 27 (8), 1–27, pl. 1.

  16. Weber, M. (1913) Die fische der Siboga-expedition. Siboga Expedition Report LVII. E. J. Brill, Leiden, 710 pp.

  17. White, W.T., Mana, R.R. & Naylor, G.J.P. (2017) Description of a new species of deepwater catshark Apristurus yangi n.sp. (Carcharhiniformes: Pentanchidae) from Papua New Guinea. Zootaxa, 4320 (1), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4320.1.2