Species: Echinorhinus brucus, Bramble Shark, Prickly Shark

Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Bramble Shark, Prickly Shark

Body robust, cylindrical; head depressed; spiracles small, well behind eyes; teeth similar on both jaws, compressed and plate-like, each with 1 large point, adults with 3 additional small points; 5 gill slits, last distinctly longer than the rest; all before pectoral; both dorsal fins small, at rear of body, first originates behind origin of pelvic fin; pelvics large, at rear of body; no anal fin; tail fin strongly asymmetrical, lower lobe poorly developed, without notch under top tip; body covered with very large (>1 cm), sparse, scattered thorn-like denticles that have smooth bases, some fused into compound plates; young with close-set small denticles below snout and around mouth.

Blackish to greyish brown above and below; may have red or brown blotches on back and sides; fin edges blackish; thorns whitish.

Size: 310 cm.

Habitat: rocky and soft bottoms

Depth: 10-900 m, usually below 80 m.

Both sides of the Atlantic; the Mediterranean, the Indo-W Pacific; North Carolina, the Gulf of Mexico to Venezuela, Brazil