Sarawak pygmy swellshark
species of shark (Cephaloscyllium sarawakensis)
The Sarawak pygmy swellshark (Cephaloscyllium sarawakensis) is a species of catshark, belonging to the family Scyliorhinidae. It is found in the benthic zone near the edge of the Pacific continental shelf, at depths of 118–165 m.
Description
The species reaches a maximum size of 40.8 cm length; males mature at 32.5 cm length and females at 35.4–40.8 cm length. The species uniquely uses sustained single oviparity producing larger but fewer eggs than others.
Sustained single oviparity
The mode of oviparity in the Sarawak pygmy swellshark has been found to differ considerably from the two previously defined modes of oviparity found in Chondrichthyans. This unique form of oviparity has been described as "sustained single oviparity," a mode of oviparity characterized by the deposition and retention of a single egg case in each oviduct until the two embryos reach a length ranging 16.5–20.1% total length.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sarawak pygmy swellshark” is species of shark (Cephaloscyllium sarawakensis). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Sarawak, pygmy and swellshark, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “species of shark (Cephaloscyllium sarawakensis)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4546359. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sarawak pygmy swellshark” 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.