ANIMAL SPECIES:Largetooth Cookiecutter Shark, Isistius plutodus Garrick & Springer, 1964
The Largetooth Cookiecutter Shark has a cigar-shaped body, a short conical snout and two low, spineless dorsal fins. It has a row of 19 huge teeth (proportionately the largest of any shark species) in the lower jaw. Its anteriorly placed eyes may enable binocular vision.
Identification
The Largetooth Cookiecutter Shark has a cigar-shaped body, a short conical snout and two low, spineless dorsal fins. It has a row of 19 huge teeth (proportionately the largest of any shark species) in the lower jaw. Its anteriorly placed eyes may enable binocular vision.
The species looks similar to the Smalltooth Cookiecutter Shark. The two species can be separated base on tooth size, colouration and fin placement.
Size range
The Largetooth Cookiecutter Shark grows to 50 cm in length.Distribution
This species is recorded from specimens caught in the Gulf of Mexico, off Okinawa, Japan, from the eastern Atlantic and from Australia.
The 363 mm long female shark in the image was trawled at a depth of about 100 m by the FV Teresa off Newcastle, New South Wales in 1988. It is the first record of this species from Southern Hemisphere waters. It is registered in the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection (AMS I.28924-001).
Behaviour and adaptations
Feeding and Diet
It feeds by biting pieces of muscle from the bodies of larger marine creatures.
Classification
- Species:
- plutodus
- Genus:
- Isistius
- Family:
- Dalatiidae
- Order:
- Squaliformes
- Class:
- Chondrichthyes
- Subphylum:
- Vertebrata
- Phylum:
- Chordata
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
References
- Compagno, L.J.V. 1984. FAO species catalogue. Vol.4, Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part I - Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes: viii, 1-250. FAO Fisheries Synopsis 125: 1-249.
- Garrick, J.A.F & Springer, S. 1964. Isistius plutodus, a New Squaloid Shark from the Gulf of Mexico. Copeia (4): 678-682.
- McGrouther, M.A. 2001. First record of the Large-tooth Cookie-Cutter Shark, Isistius plutodus from Australian waters. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 46(2): 442.
- Zidowitz, H., Fock, H.O., Pusch, C. & H. Von Westernhagen. 2004. A first record of Isistius plutodus in the north-eastern Atlantic. Journal of Fish Biology. 64: 1430-1434.
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Head of the Largetooth Cookiecutter shark View full size
Carl Bento
© Australian Museum
A Largetooth Cookiecutter Shark trawled off Newcastle View full size
Carl Bento
© Australian Museum
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