Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)
Oxynotus centrina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Oxynotus centrina (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: small sharks with body triangular in cross-section, very deep and very compressed. Mouth very small; lips thick, spongy, with a complex series of cross-folds; lower teeth in 9 series. Gill openings 5, very small. Two very high broad-based triangular dorsal fins, each with a large spine originating about at midpoint of their bases; first dorsal fin spine sloping forward, distance from tip of second dorsal spine to tip of fin rather shorter than the spine (tip to base). A horizontal dermal ridge between bases of pelvic and pectoral fins. Colour: black or deep brown with dark blotches on sides and head. Size: to 1.5 m, usually 50-60 cm.
Habitat: benthic on continental shelf and upper slope at 60-660 m. Food: no data. Reproduction: maturing at about 50 cm.
Distribution: Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic, rarely into northern waters. Elsewhere, southward to Senegal, possibly even to South Africa.
Eggs, embryonic and young stages. Lo Bianco, 1909: 667 | Tortonese, 1956: 168 | Capapé, 1974a: 238.