Gulper shark

Gulper shark
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Squaliformes
Family:	Centrophoridae
Genus:	Centrophorus
Species:	C. granulosus
Binomial name
Centrophorus granulosus (Bloch & J. G. Schneider,1801)
Range of gulper shark (in blue)

For the gulper sharks family, see Centrophoridae.

The gulper shark (Centrophorus granulosus), is a large common deep-water dogfish. Gulper sharks have no anal fin, two dorsal fins with spines, a long, broad snout, widely spaced flat denticles, and angular, extended pectoral fins. Maximum length is 1.5 m. They are found in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the eastern Atlantic from the Congo north to France, in the Indian Ocean around Madagascar and Aldabra, and in the Pacific Ocean south of Honshū.

Habits and habitat

Gulper sharks live in deep water below 200 m to as deep as 1,200 m. They are ovoviviparous, giving birth to live young. Their main food is fish.

References

• Guallart et al. (2006). Centrophorus granulosus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is vulnerable
• "Centrophorus granulosus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=160633. Retrieved 30 January 2006. 
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2005). "Centrophorus granulosus" in FishBase. 10 2005 version.
• FAO Species Catalogue Volume 4 Parts 1 and 2 Sharks of the World

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