Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Rank Species Subclass Elasmobranchii | Family Somniosidae Genus Somniosus Order Squaliformes | |
Similar Japanese velvet dogfish, Southern sleeper shark, Largespine velvet dogfish, Scymnodalatias, Little sleeper shark | ||
The frog shark (Somniosus longus) is a very rare species of shark mainly found in deeper water. It is in the sleeper shark family with the Greenland shark.
Contents
Description
The frog shark is known to grow to at least 143 cm in length.
Range
Fewer than a dozen specimens of this deepwater shark have been collected, mostly from the Pacific Ocean. The frog shark has been recorded off the coasts of Japan, New Zealand, and possibly Salas y Gómez, as well as the Nazca Ridge, from as shallow as 120–150 m and as deep as 1,116 m.
Threats
The frog shark is occasionally caught by trawl, longline, and crab-pot fisheries. As of 2015, no current conservation efforts are in place.
References
Frog shark Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA