FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

1210 Sharks
Heptranchias perlo (Bonnaterre, 1788)
En - Sharpnose sevengill shark; Fr - Requin perlon; Sp - Cañabota bocadulce.
Maximum total length about 1.37 m. On the bottom of the outer continental and insular shelves and
upper slopes in depths of 100 to 400 m, also inshore and down to 1000 m. Feeds on bony fish and
squid. Caught as bycatch in bottom trawls, but of minor importance to fisheries. Almost circumglobal
in tropical and temperate seas, except for the eastern North Pacific, with a primarily continental
distribution.
Hexanchus griseus (Bonnaterre, 1788)
En - Bluntnose sixgill shark; Fr - Requin grise; Sp - Cañabota gris (Cañabota).
Maximum total length about 4.8 m. On the outer continental and insular shelves and upper slopes
down to at least 1 875 m. Benthic or pelagic, sluggish, bottom-dwelling; feeds on a wide range of
marine organisms. Caught in bottom trawls and with hook-and-line; utilized fresh, frozen, and dried
salted, also for fishmeal and oil. Almost circumglobal in tropical and temperate seas, found off
continents, oceanic islands, and on sea mounts in the Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, and Indo-Pacific.
Hexanchus nakamurai Teng, 1962
En - Bigeye sixgill shark.
Maximum total length about 1.8 m. On the continental and insular shelves and upper slopes, usually
near the bottom at depths from 90 to 600 m. Probably feeds on bony fish and crustaceans. Eastern
Central America and Caribbean Sea, eastern Atlantic from France to Morocco, including the
Mediterranean Sea, Indo-West Pacific off eastern and southern Africa and Japan, Taiwan Province
of China, Philippines, New Caledonia, and Australia.
(after Last and Stevens, 1994)