Author: Bonaparte, 1840
Squatina oculata Bonaparte, 1840
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Squatina oculata Bonaparte, 1840 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: eye equal to or larger than spiracle. Frontal cephalic membranes slightly undulate; nasal flap with two barbels bordering a fringed median lobe spiracle with 12 pseudobranchial lamellae. Teeth 15-19/15-19 mean 17/l7. Pectoral fin base 2-3 times in length of fin; hind tips of pelvic fins not reaching level of first dorsal fin origin. Denticles on back with several crests, but no median line of spines; lower surfaces with denticles only on front margins of pectoral and pelvic fins and down centre of tail. Vertebrae 80-81 to level of first dorsal fin. Colour: greyishbrown or reddish, mottled with brown; with some large rounded darker markings, including three pairs on sides of tail and sometimes two more on pectoral fins; several white ocelli, some distributed symmetrically on back. Size: to 1.5 m and 35 kg.
Habitat: a bottom-dweller on sand or mud, at 50-400 m, preferring water of 13-17°C. Food: mainly fishes. Reproduction: ovoviviparous; newly born more than 25 cm, probably 30 cm.
Distribution: western Mediterranean and Greek coasts, also coast of Morocco. Elsewhere, southward to Angola.
Eggs, embryonic and young stages. ? Lo Bianco, 1909: 684 (as Sq. fimbriata) | Capapé, 1974a: 248.