The Pinocchio catshark (''Apristurus australis'') is a species of

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 ...

in the family Scyliorhinidae found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and possibly

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is the open seas. It belongs to a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of poorly known deep-water

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 ...

s. Very little is known of its biology. Possibly a widely distributed deep-water

found along the Australian

continental slope A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...

at depths of 590 to 1,000 m, it consists of several distinct populations which may be separate species. Although part of the distribution includes heavily fished areas, particularly off southeastern

, much of its range is in unfished areas. Given the taxonomic uncertainty of the separate populations, it is not possible to assess the

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

of this

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

at this time. However, deep-water demersal trawl fisheries are expanding in the region, and the situation should be reassessed following taxonomic clarification.

References

pinocchio catshark Marine fish of Southern Australia Taxa named by Keiichi Sato (ichthyologist) Taxa named by Kazuhiro Nakaya Taxa named by Michikazu Yorozu pinocchio catshark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{shark-stub ru:Apristurus brunneus