Author: Cloquet, 1821
Mustelus asterias Cloquet, 1821
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Mustelus asterias Cloquet, 1821 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: snout gently rounded, inter-nostril distance 1.2-1.3 times nostril width; upper labial folds longer than lowers. Teeth low, asymmetrical, cusplet present in young. Dorsal fins similar in shape, second slightly smaller; pectoral fins broad; sub-terminal notch on upper caudal lobe large, Iower lobe of caudal fin moderately developed. Weak ridges extending less than halfway along denticles, which are almost as wide as long. Colour: grey to brown above, with numerous white spots, white below. Size: to 140 cm TL, mature at 80-85 cm TL.
Habitat: coastal. Food: fishes, crabs, molluscs. Reproduction: ovoviviparous, 20 young born at 30 cm TL.
Distribution: Morocco and Madeira northward to the Shetlands and North Sea; also Mediterranean.
Complementary iconography. Bonaparte, 1834, fasc. 8, fig. 1 | Lozano Rey, 1928, fig. 106-109 | Tortonese, 1956, fig. 72-73, 77-78.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Lo Bianco, 1909: 513-761 | Ranzi, 1932: 250; 1934: 379 | Cabo, 1945: 1-15 | Tortonese, 1956: 143 | Capapé, 1974a . 235.