''Apristurus manocheriani'', also known by its common name Manocherian's catshark, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

from the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Apristurus ''Apristurus'' is a genus of catsharks, the family Scyliorhinidae, commonly known as the ghost or demon catsharks. Species The 39 currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Apristurus albisoma'' Nakaya & Séret, 1999 (white-bodied c ...

''. This species was originally described by Justin A. Cordova and David A. Ebert in 2021.

Etymology

The cat shark is named in honor of Greg Manocherian (b. 1967), an American philanthropist, because of his commitment to shark conservation and research.

Description

The species 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 ...

with a "porcelain" white body color with a pink tint, it has a maximum total length of at least 558 mm for males and 495 mm for females.

Range

''Apristurus manocheriani'' is only found in the southwest

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

Taxonomy

The species is part of the

Apristurus spongiceps The spongehead catshark (''Apristurus spongiceps'') is a rare species of deep-sea catshark, family Scyliorhinidae. This species was only known from two specimens taken in the Pacific Ocean: an adult from near Bird Island, Hawaii, and a juvenile ...

subgroup of the

Genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

References

manocheriani Taxa named by Justin A. Cordova Taxa named by David A. Ebert Fish described in 2021 {{Shark-stub