Species: Dalatias licha, Kitefin Shark

Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Kitefin Shark

Body elongate, cylindrical; head narrow and conical; snout short, blunt; no nictitating eyelids; large spiracles behind eye; mouth small, lips thick and with pleats or fringes; upper teeth narrow, needle-like, lower teeth very large, compressed, broad, triangular, serrated, larger than upper; 5 small gill slits, all before pectoral; both dorsal fins small, rounded, narrow, first smaller that second, fins are widely separated, without spines, first dorsal closer to pectoral than pelvic; origin of first behind pectoral; origin of second near pelvic rear base; no anal fin; no lateral ridges between pectoral and pelvic fins; no pits on upper tail base; no keel on tail base; tail fin asymmetrical, lower lobe not expanded, terminal notch under tip of top lobe; skin denticals with low, flat, ridged single points.

Dark grey-brown to black with edges of fins translucent; lips or their corners white.

Size: 180 cm.

Habitat: Found in on bottom to midwater on outer continental and insular shelves.

Depth: 37 -1800 m, usually > 200 m.

Scattered locations around the world (except the E Pacific) in subtropical to temperate areas; Georges Bank to the Gulf of Mexico, to the SE Caribbean.