Stout body; pointed snout; huge mouth; 5 very long gill slits that extend onto the top and bottom of the body, all before the pectoral; long, hair like gill rakers; teeth numerous, minute, hooked; 2 dorsal fins, the first midway between the pectorals and pelvics; tail nearly symmetrical and half-moon shaped; tail base depressed, with long, strong keel.
Back blackish to grey-brown or blue-grey; belly a little paler.
Size: > 1000 cm.
Habitat: near shore pelagic.
Depth: 0-570 m.
Circumglobal in temperate waters; enters the fringes of our region - to central and possibly southern Baja, possibly the northern Gulf of California; the Galapagos, Ecuador and Peru.
