Mitsukurinidae
Mitsukurinidae Temporal range: Cretaceous to Present
Early | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
Subdivision: | Selachimorpha |
Order: | Lamniformes |
Family: | Mitsukurinidae D. S. Jordan, 1898 |
Genera | |
Synonyms | |
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Mitsukurinidae is a family of sharks with one living genus, Mitsukurina, and five fossil genera: Anomotodon, Protoscapanorhynchus, Pseudoscapanorhynchus and Scapanorhynchus, and Woellsteinia,[1] though some taxonomists consider Scapanorhynchus to be a synonym of Mitsukurina.[2][3] The only known living species is the goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni.
This family of sharks is named in honour of Kakichi Mitsukuri who bought the holotype of the only species in this family to David Starr Jordon to be scientifically described.[4]
The most distinctive characteristic of the goblin sharks is the long, trowel-shaped, beak-like snout, much longer than those of other sharks. Its long snout is covered with ampullae of Lorenzini that enable it to sense minute electric fields produced by nearby prey, which it can snatch up by rapidly extending its jaws.[5] They also possess long, protrusible jaws.[6] When the jaws are retracted, the shark resembles a grey nurse shark, Carcharias taurus, with an unusually long nose. Its nose resembles the nose of a goblin, which is how it received its name. These sharks have only been seen about 50 times since their discovery in 1897.
References
- ^ Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
- ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2010). "List of Nominal Species of Mitsukurinidae (Goblin shark)". FishBase. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Scapanorhynchus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
- ^ Jordan, David Starr (1898). "Description of a species of fish (Mitsukurina owstoni) from Japan, the type of a distinct family of Lamnoid Sharks". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. Series 3. 1: 199–201 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ Stevens, J.; Last, P.R. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 63. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
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ignored (|name-list-style=
suggested) (help) - ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2005). "Mitsukurina owstoni" in FishBase. 10 2005 version.
- Mitsukurinidae
- Taxa named by David Starr Jordan
- Shark families
- Ovoviviparous fish
- Extant Early Cretaceous first appearances
- Albian taxonomic families
- Cenomanian taxonomic families
- Turonian taxonomic families
- Coniacian taxonomic families
- Santonian taxonomic families
- Campanian taxonomic families
- Maastrichtian taxonomic families
- Danian taxonomic families
- Selandian taxonomic families
- Thanetian taxonomic families
- Ypresian taxonomic families
- Lutetian taxonomic families
- Bartonian taxonomic families
- Priabonian taxonomic families
- Rupelian taxonomic families
- Chattian taxonomic families
- Aquitanian taxonomic families
- Burdigalian taxonomic families
- Langhian taxonomic families
- Serravallian taxonomic families
- Tortonian taxonomic families
- Messinian taxonomic families
- Zanclean taxonomic families
- Piacenzian taxonomic families
- Gelasian taxonomic families
- Calabrian taxonomic families
- Ionian taxonomic families
- Tarantian taxonomic families
- Holocene taxonomic families
- Shark stubs