Hexanchus
genus of fishes
The sixgill sharks are a genus, Hexanchus, of deepwater sharks in the family Hexanchidae. These sharks are characterized by a broad, pointed head, six pairs of gill slits, comb-like, yellow lower teeth, and a long tail. The largest species can grow up to 8 m (26 ft) long and weigh over 600 kg (1,300 lb). They are continental shelf-dwelling and abyssal plain scavengers with a keen sense of smell and are among the first to arrive at carrion, together with hagfish and rattails. They show a characteristic rolling motion of the head when feeding.
They have been found at depths of up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft). Though only two extant species (the bluntnose sixgill shark and the bigeyed sixgill shark) were originally known, a third, the Atlantic sixgill shark, was found to exist.
Swimming behavior
The bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexanchus griseus, is relatively common to scientists. However, very little information exists about its distribution patterns, migrations and behavior. Data on occurrence and behavior of sixgill sharks inhabiting waters north of Spain (Galicia and Cantabrian Sea, NE Atlantic) were obtained from yearly oceanographic trawl surveys.
“Hexanchus” enters the record as genus of fishes. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hexanchus, genus and fishes can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hexanchus” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hexanchus, genus and fishes provides the most credible route into that argument.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q311682. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hexanchus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.