cow sharks
hexanchidae latin

Cow sharks are ovoviviparous, with the mother retaining the egg-cases in her body until they hatch.

Examples from this group include the cow sharks, frilled shark and even a shark that looks on first inspection to be a marine snake.

Family Hexanchidae (cow sharks)

Order Hexanchiformes (frilled and cow sharks)

Cow sharks are considered the most primitive of all the sharks, as their skeletons resemble those of ancient extinct forms, with few modern adaptations.

Cow sharks, or the Hexanchidae, are a family of sharks characterized by an additional pair or pairs of gill slits.

The frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus, is very different from the cow sharks, and it has been proposed that it be moved to its own order Chlamydoselachiformes.

Pyramid Rock is a popular dive site in Cape Town, South Africa, known for the common occurrence of Broadnose seven-gill or cow sharks in the sandy channels of the kelp forest environment.

The water enters through the mouth, passes into the pharynx, and exits through the gill slits (most sharks have five pairs, the frilled sharks, cow sharks, and sixgill sawshark have six or seven pairs).

The shark order Hexanchiformes (in a broad sense, not only comprising the cow sharks, but also including the frilled sharks, Chlamydoselachidae) is often considered the most primitive of extant sharks, since they share some features with Paleozoic and early-Mesozoic shark groups as the Cladoselachiformes.

The bluntnose sixgill shark is a member of the Hexanchidae family.

Family Hexanchidae (cow sharks)

The sixgill sharks, Hexanchus, are a genus of deepwater sharks in the family Hexanchidae.

Cow sharks, or the Hexanchidae, are a family of sharks characterized by an additional pair or pairs of gill slits.

The broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) is the only extant member of the genus Notorynchus, in the family Hexanchidae.