Author: (Saemundsson, 1922)
Apristurus laurussonii (Saemundsson, 1922)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Apristurus laurussonii (Saemundsson, 1922) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body short, the distance tip of snout to cloaca slightly shorter than the distance cloaca to rear end of caudal fin; head and snout relatively short, snout less than 80% TL; length of eye opening less than least distance between nostrils. Dorsal fins nearly equal; origin of first dorsal fin over or slightly behind middle of pelvic fin's base; anal fin long, extending from tips of pelvic fins nearly or completely to origin of lower caudal fin lobe; anal fin base equal to or greater than distance from tip of snout to first gill opening and greater than distance between dorsal fin bases. Colour: uniformly dark grey above and reddish below. Size: to 68 cm (male) or 67 cm (female).
Habitat: benthic on upper continental and island slopes at about 550-1,500 m.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic continental slope northward to Iceland. Elsewhere, south to Senegal, also western North Atlantic (Massachusetts Delaware, northern Gulf of Mexico).