Main identification features
- body flabby
- c: top edge - denticles
- crests under oval eyes
- pectorals small
PARMATURUS
CATSHARKS
Flabby, soft-bodied sharks with short, rounded snouts that are < mouth-width long; eyes are elongate ovals; well developed ridges under eyes; the origin of the first dorsal over or behind the origin of the pelvic fins; spiracles present; intestine with a spiral valve; 5 gill slits, with the last 2 over the pectoral fin; crests of saw-like denticles on upper and sometimes lower tail edge; pectorals small, width of rear margin < mouth width; small teeth that usually have multiple points; tail strongly asymmetrical with little of no lower lobe, and the tail base without keels on sides.
A genus of deepwater, tropical to temperate sharks, with 4 species, found in the Caribbean, Eastern Pacific, and off China and Japan; 1 temperate eastern Pacific species enters the northern part of the TEP.
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- Gilbert, C.H., 1892., Scientific results of explorations by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer "Albatross." 22. Descriptions of thirty-four new species of fishes collected in 1888 and 1889, principally among the Santa Barbara Islands and in the Gulf of California., Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 14:539-566.
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