Species: Apristurus laurussonii, Flathead Cat Shark, Iceland Cat Shark, Madeira Cat Shark

Apristurus laurussonii (Saemundsson, 1922)

Iceland Cat Shark, Flathead Cat Shark, Madeira Cat Shark

Body soft and flabby, with thin skin; body compressed; head broad, flattened, pointed and wedge shaped in side view; snout relatively short, <8% TL, tip bluntly pointed, longer than mouth width; skull without crests above eyes; mouth short, arched, reaches to under front edge of eyes; teeth with 3 (usually)-5 cusps, central cusp longest; lip furrows very long, upper furrows extend forwards to level of front of mouth, lower furrows shorter than uppers; nostrils large, upper flap pointed, reach across nostrils; eyes relatively large (orbit length 2.5-3% TL, high on sides of head, with a crest below them; 5 gill slits, on sides of head, length < eye; 2 dorsal fins small, at rear of body, without spines; 1st dorsal slightly larger than second, origin over/slightly behind center of base of pelvics; origin of 2nd dorsal over ~middle of anal base; space between dorsals 9.1-10.5% TL, > 1st dorsal base; distance between pectoral and pelvic bases 15-17.8% TL; anal fin very large, angular, starts at tips of pelvics, separated from tail fin by a very small notch, base 14.6-17% TL; tail fin elongate, top lobe with a subterminal notch, lower lobe weakly developed, without crest of denticles along top margin; flank denticles with 3 points (central point longest) central ridge strongest.

Uniform dark brown.

Reaches 72 cm

Trawled from soft bottoms

Depth range 560-2060 m

East and West Atlantic; Canada to Venezuela.