Author: Bonaparte, 1838
Field Marks:
Batoid-like form; but with free anterior pectoral lobes lateral to gills and lower lobe of caudal fin longer than upper
Habitat, Distribution and Biology:
Angelsharks are unique, bizarrely-shaped sharks with a broad distribution in cool temperate to tropical waters, ranging in depth from close inshore in the intertidal down to the upper continental slopes at over 1300 m. They are often found buried in mud and sand on the bottom during the daytime, but at least some species are night-active, and swim off the bottom after dusk. They have a mostly ambitemperate range, with a few species being found in equatorial waters, but several occur in warm temperate waters and a few range into cold northern boreal waters. Angelsharks are found primarily in continental waters, in the eastern North and South Pacific, western North and South Atlantic, eastern Atlantic, extreme southwestern Indian Ocean, temperate western North and South Pacific, but do not occur in most of the Indian Ocean nor in the Central Pacific reaches of Oceania. Most angelsharks are of moderate size, below 1.6 m, but at least one species may reach 2 m. They feed on a variety of small bony fishes, crustaceans, cephalopods, gastropods and bivalves, and use their highly protrusable, traplike jaws to suddenly snap up prey at high speed. They are harmless to people unless disturbed or provoked, but if aroused can be aggressive and are capable of causing serious but not lethal cuts with their small but sharp teeth and strong jaws. Their relatively small size and bottom habitat makes them minimally dangerous to people, and they primarily pose a minor hazard to fisheries personnel that have to handle them in catches.
Interest to Fisheries:
Several of the species are intensively fished, especially by bottom trawl, line gear and fixed bottom nets, and used for human consumption, oil, fishmeal, leather and shagreen for woodworking. The flesh of these sharks is excellent for human food, despite their bizarre and unusual appearance.
Remarks:
Arrangement of this family follows Bigelow and Schroeder (1948), with some emendations and additions. The angel sharks remain a poorly known group taxonomically and biologically, and the treatment herein accorded them is provisional in the extreme.