Author: (Risso, 1810)
Odontaspis ferox (Risso, 1810)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Odontaspis ferox (Risso, 1810) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: head distinctly depressed; eye small, more than 4 times in snout; first tooth at front of upper jaw, very small; third upper tooth followed by four very small teeth; teeth with two cusplets on each side of the base of main cusp. Second dorsal fin origin above or slightly behind anal fin origin; the hindmost point of second dorsal fin above anal fin base; anal fin slightly smaller than second dorsal fin. Colour: body light grey above, sometimes with irregular dark blotches, whitish below; margins of both dorsal fins, pelvic and anal fins very dark grey; lower edge of caudal fin almost black. Size: to about 3.6 m.
Habitat: epipelagic or benthic on continental and insular shelves and slopes, from 13 to 420 m. Food: predator on fishes, squids, crustaceans. Reproduction: probably ovoviviparous; males mature at 2.75 m, females at 3.60 m; size at birth about 1.05 m.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic, from Morocco to Gulf of Biscay, als Mediterranean. Elsewhere, western Indian Ocean, western central an eastern Pacific (possibly cosmopolitan).