Frilled Shark

Frilled Shark


Frilled Shark


Frilled Shark


Frilled Shark

Geographic Range

Frilled sharks are wide ranging. They have been found almost worldwide, including the eastern Atlantic coast of northern Norway, the western Indian Ocean near South Africa, the western Pacific near New Zealand, and the eastern Pacific near the coast of Chile. (Compagno, 1984_

Habitat

Depth
100 to 1300 m
(328 to 4264 ft)

Chlamydoselachus anguineus, is found on continental shelves and the nearshore areas of large islands, although they are occasionally reported in open waters. They are mostly benthic and occur at depths from 100 to 1,300 meters. (Taylor et al., 2002)

Physical Description

Length
2 m (high)
(6.56 ft)

Frilled sharks, or eel sharks (Taylor et al., 2002), have a long slender body with an elongate tail fin, giving them an eel-like appearance (Compagno, 1984). The body tends to be a chocolate brown color. They have a small dorsal fin located well towards the tail, above the large anal fin, and in front of the highly asymmetric caudal fin. The pectoral fins are short and rounded (Taylor et al., 2002). Chlamydoselachus anguineus has six gill openings (most sharks have five). The first gill is continuous across the throat, while all the gills are surrounded by frilly margins of skin-hence the name "frilled shark." The snout is short and the lower jaw is long. The teeth are alike both on the upper and lower jaws, with three elongate, sharp cusps separated by two intermediate ones (Taylor et al., 2002; Nelson, 1994). Length is usually 2 meters (Miller and Lea,)

Lifespan/Longevity

Extreme lifespan (wild)
25 years (high)

Frilled sharks have never been kept in captivity. In the wild it is difficult to determine just how long these fish live. Because they are deep benthic creatures there is little information on lifespan. However, one source (Parker and Parker, 1999) estimates maximum lifespan at 25 years. (Parker and Parker, 1999)

Behavior

Chlamydoselachus anguineus is a slow-moving, deep water shark. They are among the slowest of shark species (Parker & Parker, 1999). Like most sharks, they are solitary. (Parker and Parker, 19