Author: Springer and D'Aubrey, 1972
Field Marks:
A Halaelurus with rounded snout, moderate-sized abdomen, fairly long anal base, plain light coloration, large size (see diagnostic features and remarks below).
Diagnostic Features:
Snout tip not upturned and knoblike, narrowly rounded; eyes in adults 14 or more times in distance from snout to first dorsal origin; anterior nasal flaps subtriangular; labial furrows rather short, essentially confined to mouth corners, but lowers extending at least 5 mm onto lower jaw; mouth moderately large, its width 6 to 8% of total length, its length 4% of total length; papillae absent from pharynx; gills directed laterad, not elevated above level of mouth. Origin of first dorsal fin over or slightly in front of pelvic insertions; second dorsal somewhat smaller than first, its origin about over anal midbase; abdomen moderately long in adults, distance between pectoral and pelvic bases 1.3 to 1.6 times pectoral anterior margin; length of anal base about 1.5 times the second dorsal base, slightly shorter than distance between dorsal bases. Colour grey-brown above and light below, sometimes with obscure saddle bands. Adults small, to about 37 cm. Geographical Distribution: Western Indian Ocean: Mozambique and Somalia.
Habitat and Biology:
A deepwater tropical catshark of the continental slope of the western Indian Ocean, on or just above muddy bottom, at 338 to 766 m depth. Apparently ovoviviparous, as egg-cases are thin-walled, extremely fragile baglike structures unlike the stout egg-cases of typical oviparous species, and would be of little protection to developing young. Eats cephalopods, small bony fishes, and crustaceans.
Size:
Maximum 39 cm, adult males 31 to 34 cm, and adult females 31 to 39 cm. Size at birth about 10 cm.
Interest to Fisheries:
None at present.
Type material:
Holotype: U.S. National Museum of Natural History, USNM-205135, 326 mm adult male. Type Locality: Off Delagoa Bay, Mozambique, 25°32'5, 33°24'E, 450 to 455 m depth.