Blacktailed spurdog
The blacktailed spurdog (Squalus melanurus) is a dogfish, a member of the family Squalidae, found around New Caledonia in the central Pacific Ocean, at depths from 320 to 320 m. Its length is up to 75 cm.
Blacktailed spurdog | |
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from New Caledonia | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Order: | Squaliformes |
Family: | Squalidae |
Genus: | Squalus |
Species: | S. melanurus |
Binomial name | |
Squalus melanurus Fourmanoir & Rivaton, 1979 | |
Range of the blacktailed spurdog (in blue) |
Its reproduction is ovoviviparous.
Parasites
The blacktailed spurdog has been seldom studied for parasites. The 1 mm-long monogenean Triloculotrema chisholmae has been described in 2009 from three specimens found in the nasal tissue of a single shark caught off New Caledonia.[2]
T. chisholmae was the second species described in the genus Triloculotrema Kearn, 1993 (family Monocotylidae).[3]
Species of Triloculotrema appear to be limited to deep-sea sharks, either triakids or squalids (possibly etmopterids).[2]
The blacktailed spurdog is also the host of external parasites such as the aegid isopod Aega angustata on the skin.[4] Internal parasites include several trypanorhynch cestodes in the spiral intestine, such as Vittirhynchus squali and Gilquinia sp.[5]
Gallery
- Squalus melanurus, head
- Squalus melanurus, dorsal fin and spine
- Squalus melanurus, ventral view of male
References
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2006). "Squalus melanurus" in FishBase. July 2006 version.
- Finucci, B.; Kyne, P.M. (2018). "Squalus melanurus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T41860A116737441. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T41860A116737441.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- Justine, J.-L. 2009: A new species of Triloculotrema Kearn, 1993 (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from a deep-sea shark, the blacktailed spurdog Squalus melanurus (Squaliformes: Squalidae), off New Caledonia. Systematic Parasitology, 74, 59-63. doi:10.1007/s11230-009-9202-x
- Kearn, G. C. 1993: Triloculotrema japanicae n.g., n. sp. (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from the olfactory sacs of the Japanese topeshark Hemitriakis japanica (Müller & Henle, 1839) (Carcharhiniformes: Triakidae). Systematic Parasitology, 26, 53-57.
- Trilles, J.-P. & Justine, J.-L. 2004: Une nouvelle espèce de Cymothoidae et trois Aegidae (Crustacea, Isopoda) récoltés sur des poissons de mer profonde au large de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Zoosystema, 26, 211-233.
- Beveridge, I. & Justine, J.-L. 2006: Gilquiniid cestodes (Trypanorhyncha) from elasmobranch fishes off New Caledonia with descriptions of two new genera and a new species. Systematic Parasitology, 65, 235-249. doi:10.1007/s11230-006-9052-8