The white-bodied catshark (''Apristurus albisoma'') is a

catshark Catsharks are ground sharks of the family Scyliorhinidae. They are the largest family of sharks with around 160 species placed in 17 genera. Although they are generally known as catsharks, some species can also be called dogfish due to previous n ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Scyliorhinidae.

Description

This shark is coloured whitish to light grey.

Distribution

This species is found in the western Pacific. The area of occupancy of this small

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

endemic

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

was presumed very limited (less than 2,000 km²), being restricted to a narrow depth band on insular and seamount slopes near New Caledonia. However this species has been collected in waters of the north of New Zealand on the West Norfolk Ridge.

Conservation status

Although this species has been classified by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

as of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

, there is a worry that this species may be taken as un-utilised bycatch by deepwater trawl fisheries and that, like other deepwater species, it may not be sufficiently fecund to withstand exploitation pressure in these fisheries. The New Zealand

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

has classified the white-bodied catshark as "Data deficient" under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had some ...

References

white-bodied catshark Fish of New Caledonia Taxa named by Kazuhiro Nakaya Taxa named by Bernard Séret white-bodied catshark {{shark-stub