Author: (Weber, 1913)
Field Marks:
A reddish-white slender Apristurus with very small eyes, narrow, relatively short, pointed snout, anteriorly expanded mouth, first dorsal fin less than half area of first and with its origin well behind pelvic bases, and low, narrow anal and caudal fins.
Diagnostic Features:
Body relatively slender, trunk slightly tapering toward head. Snout moderately long, narrow, and pointed, preoral snout about 8% of total length; gill slits small but about equal to eye length; gill septa without projecting medial lobes or pleats, but with deeply incised edges; eyes extremely small, about 1.7% of total length; nostrils narrow, their width about 1.3 times in internarial space; incurrent and excurrent apertures large and oval, anterior nasal flaps large and triangular; mouth moderately long, large, and broadly arched, with dental bands prominently expanded and with lower ones falling well behind uppers; mouth and labial furrows extending well in front of eyes; labial folds somewhat enlarged, with lower nearly transverse to body axis. Interdorsal space nearly twice the first dorsal base, slightly less than preorbital snout; first dorsal fin only about a third as large as second, base of second nearly twice as long as first; origin of first dorsal posterior to free rear tips of pelvics; second dorsal insertion behind anal insertion; pectoral fins small, anterior margins 9% of total length; inner margins long, nearly length of pectoral bases; interspace between pectoral and pelvic bases fairly short, slightly less than prespiracular length and about 11% of total length; pelvic fins very low and subquadrate; anal fin long, low, and angular, over 5 times as long as high, its base about equal to prepectoral space and 18% of total length in the type; caudal fin very long and narrow, presence of caudal crest of denticles uncertain. Condition of lateral trunk denticles uncertain. Colour reddish-white. Size of adults uncertain, only specimen 21 cm.
Geographical Distribution:
Western South Pacific: Makassar Straits between Borneo and Sulawesi (Indonesia).
Habitat and Biology:
A rare catshark, only known from the Makassar Straits slope at 655 m depth.
Size:
Maximum over 21 cm (juvenile).
Interest to Fisheries:
None.
Remarks:
The present account and illustration is based on the writer's examination of the holotype and only known specimen. Although very small and in rather poor condition, it evidently represents a very distinct species.
Type material:
Holotype: Zoologisches Museum, Amsterdam, ZMA 111076, 210 mm immature female. Type Locality: 0°32'5, 119 39.8'E, Makassar Straits, 655 m depth.