Hooktooth dogfish

Hooktooth dogfish
Conservation status
Data Deficient
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Squaliformes
Family:	Dalatiidae
Genus:	Aculeola
Species:	A. nigra
Binomial name
Aculeola nigra (de Buen, 1959)

Template:Sharksportal The hooktooth dogfish, Aculeola nigra, is a small, little known dogfish, the only member of the genus Aculeola.

The type specimen is held at the National Natural History Museum, Santiago, Chile.

Physical characteristics

Hooktooth dogfish have a blunt flattened snout, very large eyes, a relatively long distance from the eye to the first gill slit, small grooved dorsal spines, a first dorsal fin about halfway between the pectoral and pelvic fins, and a broad caudal fin. They are black with a maximum length of only 60 cm.

Distribution

They are found in the Eastern South Pacific along the coast of South America from Peru to central Chile.

Habits and habitat

This shark is a little-known yet common shark that lives between 110 and 560 m. They are ovoviviparous with at least 3 pups per litter. They probably eat bony fish and invertebrates.

References

• Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as data deficient
• "Aculeola nigra". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 5 February. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
• Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2005). "Aculeola nigra" in FishBase. 09 2005 version.
• FAO Species Catalogue, Volume 4, Parts 1 and 2: Sharks of the World