Author: De Buen, 1959
Diagnostic Features:
Head with very short anterior nasal flaps; flaps not expanded as barbels; snout short, flattened and truncated, length much less than distance from mouth to pectoral origins and about 1/4 length of head; gill openings moderately large, increasing in width posteriorly; lips thin, not pleated or suctorial; teeth alike in both jaws, not bladelike, with a narrow, hooked, slender erect cusp, usually no cusplets, and no blades; about 60 rows of teeth in either jaw. Small grooved finspines present on both dorsal fins; first dorsal origin over pectoral inner margins, insertion well in front of pelvic origins and about midway between pectoral and pelvic bases; second dorsal origin about opposite or slightly behind pelvic origins, second dorsal slightly larger than first, with second dorsal base less than twice length of first dorsal base; pectoral fins with rounded free rear tips and short inner margins, not greatly expanded and narrowly pointed or broadly lobate; caudal fin asymmetrical, not paddle-shaped, upper lobe long, lower lobe not differentiated, subterminal notch present and weak. Caudal peduncle without lateral keels, or precaudal pits. Dermal denticles with erect, narrow, conical ridged cusps and stellate bases. Cloaca without a luminous gland. Colour: blackish.
Geographical Distribution:
Eastern Pacific: Peru to central Chile.
Habitat and Biology:
A little-known, benthic and epibenthic shark of the Pacific south American continental shelf and upper slope, at depths of 110 to 560 mm. Ovoviviparous, number of young at least 3. Feeding habits unknown but probably small fishes and invertebrates. A relatively common species in its limited range. Size: Maximum total length about 60 cm, size at birth probably about 13 or 14 cm (size of full-term fetuses), females mature between 52 and 54 cm and reach 60 cm, males mature at 42 to 46 cm.
Interest to Fisheries: None.
Type material:
Holotype: Estacion de Biologia Marina de Montemar, Chile, No. EBMCh 10.191, apparently lost, 488 mm female.
Type Locality: Off Concon, Chile, 110 m depth.