Dusky catshark
species of fish
The dusky catshark (Bythaelurus canescens) is a species of shark belonging to the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. This shark is endemic to the southeast Pacific Ocean, off the coasts of Peru and Chile. It grows to a maximum length of 70 cm (28 in), and is oviparous like many other chondrichthyans in the Indo-Pacific.
Ecology
Bythaelurus canescens is deep-sea shark, generally located between depths of 250–1,260 m (820–4,130 ft). It lives primarily on mud on the upper continental slopes, but can also be found on rocky bottoms. It is an important mesopredator, and is often caught it shrimp trawl nets in northern and central Chilean coasts. Sometimes B. canescens makes up to 20.3% of the total catch. In spite of this, little is known about it because it is often thrown back without further consideration. Trophic ecology studies are often done on B. canescens to obtain a general overview of their diet.
Diet Studies
Much of what is known about the ecology and predicted behavior of the dusky catshark is known due to studies of stomach samples.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dusky catshark” 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.