Species: Etmopterus carteri, Cylindrical Lantern Shark

Etmopterus carteri Springer & Burgess, 1985

Cylindrical Lantern Shark

Body slender, fusiform, tapering to a slender tail base; head and snout ~cylindrical, at level of eyes head as deep as wide; snout very short (5.7-7.5% TL) , bluntly rounded; no nictitating eyelids; spiracle large, behind eye; mouth short, at acute angle; upper teeth with a large central point plus 1-2 (female) to 3-4 (male) smaller points on each side, 30 rows, lower teeth compressed and blade-like, with small, oblique tips, 27-31 rows; five gill slits, all before pectoral base, very short; two dorsal fins, 2nd ~2x area of first, both with long slender grooved spines, 1st ½ height of fin, 2nd as high as fin; first dorsal with origin over inner pectoral margin; nearer pectoral fin axil than origin of pelvics; pectoral fin lobate, rear edge reaches 1st dorsal spine; no anal fin; no ridges between pectoral and pelvic fins, no precaudal pits, no keel on tail base; tail fin strongly asymmetrical, notch at top, narrow, not elevated; fins small, with rear fringes; denticles with a single, needle like cusp, cusps shorter at front of body, densely and randomly arranged over head and body.

Body uniform blackish above and below; no obvious black areas of photophores; a line of shiny black under last vertebrae.

Size: 21 cm.

Habitat: Upper continental slopes

Depth: 283-496 m.

SW Caribbean; Honduras to Colombia.