blackmouth catshark
galeus melastomus latin

Found on or near the bottom, the blackmouth catshark favors a muddy habitat.

Within its range, the blackmouth catshark is one of the most abundant sharks over the upper and middle continental slope.

The Atlantic sawtail catshark is rarer than the blackmouth catshark, which shares its range.

The blackmouth catshark is an active, generalist predator that feeds on both bottom-dwelling and free-swimming organisms.

When foraging, the blackmouth catshark swings its head from side to side to employ its senses more effectively.

Unlike most members of its genus, the blackmouth catshark exhibits multiple oviparity, in which more than one egg can mature within each oviduct simultaneously.

Harmless to humans and of little economic value, the blackmouth catshark is caught incidentally in large numbers by commercial bottom trawl and longline fisheries.

Slow-swimming but active, the blackmouth catshark is a generalist that preys on a wide variety of crustaceans, cephalopods, and fishes.

Because of its abundance, the blackmouth catshark forms a substantial part of the bycatch of deepwater commercial fisheries across much of its range.

The oldest documented blackmouth catshark fossils come from the northern Apennines and date to the Lower Pliocene (5.3-3.6 Ma).

Known predators of the blackmouth catshark include the kitefin shark (Dalatias licha) and the European flying squid (Todarodes sagittatus).

Therefore, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the blackmouth catshark under Least Concern.

As the blackmouth catshark is known to be oviparous, Poll's account alerted French zoologist Jean Cadenat to the presence of a distinct catshark species in the region.

For electroreception, the blackmouth catshark has a high number of ampullae of Lorenzini that are evenly arranged, which enhances spatial resolution and is best suited for localizing fast-moving prey.

Along with the blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus) and the Portuguese dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis), the velvet belly is one of the most abundant deep-sea sharks in the northeastern Atlantic.

The blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus) is a species of catshark, family Scyliorhinidae, common in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to Senegal, including the Mediterranean Sea.

This species was long thought to be the same as the closely similar blackmouth catshark (G. melastomus), until it was resurrected by Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli and A. Perez Ortega in 1985.

This species is one of the three most common sharks caught as bycatch in deepwater fisheries off southern Portugal, along with the velvet belly lanternshark (E. spinax) and the blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus).

The blackmouth catshark is widely distributed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, from southwestern Iceland and Trondheim, Norway southward to Senegal, including the Faroe Islands, the British Isles, the Azores, and the northern portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

This shark closely resembles, and was once thought to be the same species as, the blackmouth catshark (G. melastomus); both are slender with a series of dark saddles and blotches along the back and tail, and a prominent crest of enlarged dermal denticles along the dorsal edge of the caudal fin.

Along with the blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus) and the Portuguese dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis), the velvet belly is one of the most abundant deep-sea sharks in the northeastern Atlantic.

The blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus) is a species of catshark, family Scyliorhinidae, common in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to Senegal, including the Mediterranean Sea.

This species is one of the three most common sharks caught as bycatch in deepwater fisheries off southern Portugal, along with the velvet belly lanternshark (E. spinax) and the blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus).