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Galeus melastomus Rafinesque, 1810

Blackmouth catshark
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Galeus melastomus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks) > Pentanchidae (Deepwater catsharks)
Etymology: Galeus: galeos, a small shark or dogfish according to Aristotle and others. (See ETYFish);  melastomus: melas (Gr.), black; stoma (Gr.), mouth, referring to color inside of mouth (common in congeners but quickly lost after preservation). (See ETYFish).
More on author: Rafinesque.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 55 - 1873 m (Ref. 55744), usually 150 - 1200 m (Ref. 35388). Deep-water; 64°N - 12°N, 19°W - 37°E

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

Northeast Atlantic: Faeroe Islands and Trondheim, Norway southward to Senegal. Mediterranean Sea.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 64.7, range 56 - ? cm
Max length : 75.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); 90.0 cm TL (female); common length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. ); max. published weight: 1.4 kg (Ref. 40637)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Depth range is reported at 55m-1200m in Ref. 9996. Found on the outer continental shelves and upper slopes. Feeds mainly on bottom invertebrates, including shrimps and cephalopods, but also on small pelagic bony fishes (lanternfishes) and other small elasmobranchs. Oviparous, with up to 13 eggs present in the oviducts at one time. Individuals from the Ionian Sea apparently reproduces from end of February to September and eggs are laid between 200 and 600 meters (Ref. 87978). Utilized fresh and dried-salted for human consumption, and for leather.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Oviparous, embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449).

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 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 244)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 31 August 2020

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 4.4 - 14.4, mean 10.3 °C (based on 708 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00269 (0.00227 - 0.00320), b=3.02 (2.97 - 3.07), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.2   ±0.3 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 2.6 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec assumed to be <100).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (35 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low to moderate vulnerability (33 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 8.06 [1.47, 47.91] mg/100g; Iron = 0.295 [0.068, 1.009] mg/100g; Protein = 17.4 [14.2, 20.4] %; Omega3 = 0.236 [0.093, 0.596] g/100g; Selenium = 9.89 [3.48, 29.10] μg/100g; VitaminA = 8.26 [1.72, 37.11] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.332 [0.159, 0.622] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.