Sharpnose Sevengill Shark, Heptranchias perlo (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Scientific name: Heptranchias perlo

Author(s)

Mark McGrouther
Updated

03/04/19
Read time

2 minutes

Fast Facts

Classification

Genus

Heptranchias

Species

perlo

Family

Hexanchidae

Order

Hexanchiformes

Class

Chondrichthyes

Subphylum

Vertebrata

Phylum

Chordata

Kingdom

Animalia
Size Range

1.4 m

Introduction

The Sharpnose Sevengill Shark has a slender body with a long caudal peduncle. It occurs in tropical and temperate waters, usually at depths between 100m to 400m.

Identification

The Sharpnose Sevengill Shark has a slender body with a long caudal peduncle (glossary). It has a pointed head with large eyes. There are seven pairs of long gill slits and a single dorsal fin. The teeth in the upper jaw have a narrow oblique cusp (glossary) and small lateral cusplets. The lower jaw teeth are shaped like a cockscomb.

The species is brownish to grey above and paler below. The tips of the dorsal and anal fins are dark in juveniles becoming whitish in adults. The eyes are green in life.

Head of a Sharpnose Sevengill Shark, Heptranchias perlo, in the Ichthyology Laboratory at the Australian Museum. The fish was collected by at Seamount Mt Woolnough, also known as Browns Mountain, New South Wales on 29 June 2015. Image: Mark McGrouther
© Australian Museum

Habitat

It occurs in tropical and temperate continental and insular shelves and upper slope waters usually at depths between 100 m to 400 m. It has however been caught as deep as 1000 m.

Distribution

In Australia it is known from northern Queensland, down the east coast, around the south of the country, including Tasmania and north to off north-western Western Australia.

The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Click on the map for detailed information. Source: Atlas of Living Australia.