International Scholarly Research Network ISRN Zoology Volume 2012, Article ID 860768, 24 pages doi:10.5402/2012/860768 Research Article Contribution to the Taxonomy and Distribution of Six Shark Species (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) from the Gulf of Thailand Simon Weigmann Biocenter Grindel and Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany Correspondence should be addressed to Simon Weigmann,
[email protected] Received 22 November 2011; Accepted 2 January 2012 Academic Editors: D. Park, J. D. Reimer, D. Russo, and P. Scaps Copyright © 2012 Simon Weigmann. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A collection of nine shark specimens from six different species, obtained in 1993 from the Gulf of Thailand, was examined in this study. The sharks were determined, morphometrically and meristically analyzed, photographically documented, and compared with relevant literature. Additionally, further available material from the fish collections of the Zoological Museum Hamburg, the Senckenberg Naturmuseum Frankfurt, and the Museum´ national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, was examined by way of comparison. Contrary to most references, prominent dorsal ridges were detected in several specimens of Chiloscyllium griseum. Additionally, one of the specimens had a very unusual big ocellar blotch on the head which had not been reported for this genus before. For Paragaleus randalli, it could be proven that the teeth morphologically deviate strongly from those shown in literature due to having much larger cusps. Furthermore, the known distribution area of Paragaleus randalli could be extended considerably eastwards by about 2000 km.