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Echinorhinus brucus (Bramble shark)
(Bonnaterre, 1788)
Life
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Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Chondrichthyes > Elasmobranchii >
Squalomorphii >
Squaliformes > Echinorhinidae
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Echinorhinus brucus (Bramble shark) [Illustration
by Ann Hecht ©] |
Identification
A stout, slate-grey to blackish shark with
scattered huge, tack-like denticles.
Size
To 3.1 m TL.
Range
Virtually entire area from Namibia to Natal; elsewhere widespread in
the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans, and Mediterranean
Sea.
Habitat
Shelf and upper slope between 18 to 900 m but
sometimes close inshore.
Biology
A poorly known sluggish,
deep-water bottom shark; bears 15 to 26 young. Feeds on smaller
sharks, bony fish, and crabs.
Human Impact
May be used in
traditional medicine. Occasionally hooked by shore anglers.
Text by Leonard J.V. Compagno, David A. Ebert
and Malcolm J. Smale
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