Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Fisheries and for a world without hunger Aquaculture Department

Species Fact Sheets brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Echinorhinus brucus: (click for more)

Synonyms Squalus spinosus Gmelin, 1789 Echinorhinus obesus Smith, 1849 Echinorhinus (Rubusqualus) mccoyi Whitley, 1931

FAO Names En - Bramble , Fr - Squale bouclé, Sp - Tiburón de clavos. 3Alpha Code: SHB Taxonomic Code: 1090600901

Scientific Name with Original Description Squalus brucus Bonnaterre, 1788, Tabl.encyclop.method.trois reg.Nat., Ichthyol., Paris, 11. Holotype: lost. Type Locality: "L'Océan" (eastern North Atlantic).

Diagnostic Features fieldmarks: No anal fin, dorsals spineless and far back, first behind pelvic origins, large scattered thornlike denticles on body and fins.

Dermal denticles on body and fins varying from small to very large, with many large, widely spaced, thorn or buckler-like denticles with bases not stellate and over a centimetre wide; some of these large denticles are fused in groups of 2 to 10 and may form large plates over 25 mm across.

Geographical Distribution

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Western Atlantic: Virginia, , USA; . Eastern Atlantic: Scottish and Irish Atlantic Slopes and to Mediterranean, Morocco, Canary Islands, Senegal, Ivory Coast; Namibia to Cape of Good Hope, . Western : South Africa, southern , ?, . Western Pacific: (southeastern Honshu), (South Australia), , ?.

Habitat and Biology A large, sluggish bottom shark sometimes occurring in shallow water but primarily a deepwater species, occurring on the continental and insular shelves and upper slopesat depths from 18 to 900 m. Ovoviviparous, number of young per litter from 15 to 24; may breed in April in Indian waters. Eats smaller (), bony fishes (including ling, , and lizardfish), and .

Size Maximum total length about 3.1 m. Young born between 29 and 90 cm, adult females reported at 213 to 230 cm, adult males reported at 150 to 174 cm.

Interest to Fisheries Apparently relatively common only in the eastern Atlantic, especially from the North Sea to Portugal, where it is caught in bottom trawls and on line gear. Utilized in the eastern Atlantic for fishmeal; liver oil has high value for medicinal purposes in South Africa.Relatively unimportant as a fisheries species.

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Global Capture Production for species (tonnes) Source: FAO FishStat 4

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Echinorhinus brucus

Source of Information FAO species catalogue Vol.4. Sharks of the world. An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Shark Species Known to Date Part 1 - to Lamniformes. Compagno, L.J.V.1984FAO Fisheries Synopsis. , (125) Vol.4, Part 1.

Bibliography Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948 Cadenat & Blache, l981 Hureau & Monod, 1973 Musick & McEachran, 1969 Silas & Severaj, 1972 Tortonese, 1958

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department