The roughskin catshark (''Apristurus ampliceps'') 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 ...

in the family Scyliorhinidae found near Australia and

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. This species belongs to a genus of poorly known deep-water

s. This species was first described in 2008 by Ryohei Sasahara, Keiichi Sato &

Kazuhiro Nakaya is a Japanese marine scientist and ichthyologist. He graduated from Hokkaido University with a BA in 1968 and with a PhD in 1972. He is professor of Marine Environment and Resources at the Marine Laboratory for Biodiversity. He specializes in ta ...

. Very little is known of its biology. This species is known to occur in deep water (840 to 1,380 m) off New Zealand, sporadic sites around

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, and a small area of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Some concern exists for this species, as its distribution includes some heavily fished areas. Deep-water demersal trawl fisheries are expanding in the region, and assuming its biology is like other deep-water shark species, it may not be sufficiently fecund to withstand the exploitation pressure.

Conservation status

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 roughskin catshark as "Data deficient" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.

References

External links

Image of holotype specimen held at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
roughskin catshark Fish of New Zealand Marine fish of Southern Australia Taxa named by Ryohei Sasahara Taxa named by Keiichi Sato (ichthyologist) Taxa named by Kazuhiro Nakaya roughskin catshark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{shark-stub