FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

1268 Sharks
A single species in this family.
Pseudocarcharias kamoharai (Matsubara, 1936)
PSEUDOCARCHARIIDAE
Crocodile sharks
by L.J.V. Compagno
Frequent synonyms / misidentifications: Odontaspis kamoharai (Matsubara, 1936) / None.
FAO names: En - Crocodile shark; Fr - Requin crocodile; Sp - Tiburón cocodrilo.
Diagnostic characters: A small relatively slender
anterior
shark. Head with 5 large gill slits, all in front of pectoral-fin
bases, their upper ends extending onto dorsal surface of
head; no gill rakers; spiracles usually present but very
small; no nasal barbels or nasoral grooves; eyes very
large, without nictitating eyelids; snout conical (not
greatly elongated or flattened and blade-like); mouth very
long and angular, extending well behind eyes; notrue
labial furrows; anterior teeth very large, with long, narrow,
hooked, sharp-edged but unserrated cusps and no cusplets, set in 2 rows on either side of symphysis in
both jaws, and not separated in front by small symphyseal teeth; upper anteriors separated from the smaller
laterals by a gap and tiny intermediate teeth. Two low dorsal fins, the first about midway between the pectoral
and pelvic fins, and well in front of pelvic fin bases, the second somewhat smaller than the first, but larger
than anal fin; caudal fin short, strongly asymmetrical, with a pronounced subterminal notch and a short
ventral lobe. Caudal peduncle slightly depressed, with a low keel on each side and upper as well as lower
precaudal pits. Intestinal valve of ring type, with close-set turns resembling a stack of washers. Colour:
light or dark grey above, lighter below, fins white-edged, sometimes small white spots on body and a white
blotch between the mouth and gill slits.
intermediate
ventral view
of head
lateral
posterior
anterior
lateral
teeth of left side
posterior
Similar families occurring in the area
None. The combination of the characters described above separates this species from all other sharks.
Size: Maximum total length to about 1.1 m; commonly between 75 cm and 1 m.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries: A rare to locally abundant oceanic and possibly mesopelagic shark,
usually found offshore from the surface to at least 300 m. Its habits are little known. Ovoviviparous. Feeds
on oceanic fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans. Most frequently caught by pelagic longline fisheries, but
usually discarded due to its small size; utilized for its large, squalene-rich liver.
Distribution: Possibly circumtropical; known from the
eastern and southwestern Atlantic, southwestern and
perhaps northeastern Indian Ocean, northwestern,
central and eastern Pacific. In the Indo-West Pacific, off
South Africa and the Mozambique Channel near
Madagascar, possibly the Bay of Bengal, New Zealand,
Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Taiwan Province of China,
Korea, Japan, Australia (Queensland), and Coral Sea.
References
Compagno. L.J.V. 1984. FAO Species catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of
shark species known to date. Part 1. Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes. FAO Fish Synop., (125)Vol.4, Pt.1:249 p.
Last, P.R. and J.D. Stevens. 1993. Sharks and rays of Australia. Australia, CSIRO, 513 p.
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