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Etmopterus spinax  (Linnaeus, 1758)

Velvet belly
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Etmopterus spinax
Picture by Salesjö, A.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Squaliformes (Bramble, sleeper and dogfish sharks) > Etmopteridae (Lantern sharks)
Etymology: Etmopterus: Greek, ethmos, -ou = sieve or ethmoides bone + Greek, pteron = wing, fin (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; bathydemersal; depth range 200 - 2490 m (Ref. 55744), usually 200 - 500 m.   Deep-water, preferred 23°C (Ref. 107945); 75°N - 48°S, 43°W - 36°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: Iceland, Norway, and the western Mediterranean to Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire to Nigeria, Cameroon to Gabon, Azores, Cape Verde, and Cape Province, South Africa.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 33 - 36 cm
Max length : 60.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 247); common length : 45.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 247); max. published weight: 850.00 g (Ref. 40637)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found on the outer continental shelves and upper slopes. Feeds on small fishes, squids, and crustaceans. Ovoviviparous, with number of young from 6 to 20 in a litter. Utilized for fishmeal and prepared dried salted for human consumption. Depth range reported at 70m-2000m in Ref. 35388.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Distinct pairing with embrace (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

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(4/1):1-249. Rome, FAO. (Ref. 247)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial
FAO(fisheries: production; publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

More information

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00295 (0.00184 - 0.00474), b=3.11 (2.97 - 3.25), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.1   ±0.2 se; Based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Fec=6).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (47 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.