Species: Galeus arae, Marbled Cat Shark, Roughtail Cat Shark
2 rows round blotches: eye to A
C with 2 dark bars

Galeus arae (Nichols, 1927)
Marbled Cat Shark, Roughtail Cat Shark
Body slender, firm, thick skin; head slightly depressed; snout = / < than mouth width, thick, not flattened, pointed, relatively short, 5-7% TL before mouth; no crests on skull over eyes; ridge under eye narrow to absent; nasal flaps broad, triangular, low, without barbels; no grooves from nostrils to mouth; mouth short, broadly arched; central teeth with long, narrow central cusp & a smaller cusp on each side; side teeth with smaller central cusp, 2-3 pairs of side cusps; lip furrows on both jaws, moderately long, but ending well short of front of mouth; eyes on sides of head; dorsal fins 2, equal sized; origin of 1st dorsal over front 1/3 of pelvic base; origin of 2nd dorsal over to slightly behind center of anal fin base; pectorals relatively large; anal fin large, elongate, relatively short, its base 8.7-13.6% TL, its origin behind tip of 1st dorsal fin, its free rear tip ends well before (by distance > / = length of eye) lower tail fin origin; tail fin elongate, ~1/4 TL; top edge of tail fin with a crest of various rows of enlarged denticles, top of crest flattened, side-row denticles asymmetrical (& much larger than those in center-rows), project laterally, covering a band of naked skin separating crest from normal denticles on rest of tail; under tail base without a denticle crest.
Body with 3-6 dark, pale-edged saddles behind 1st dorsal, 2 extending onto the front ½ of the dorsal fins; upper side from behind eye to above anal fin with row of oval to round pale-edged dark blotches, another shorter row below that; tips of dorsal and tail fins white; upper lobe of tail fin with ~2 broad dark bars
Reaches 33 cm
On and near the bottom
Depth range 250-780 m.
The Carolinas to Colombia; northern Cuba and the western Bahamas.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- In & Offshore
- Inshore
- Offshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Bottom only
- Habitat
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- Reef and soft bottom
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Egg Type
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- Benthic
- Data
- No pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent
- Continent only
- GC endemic
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 33
- Depth Range Min
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- 250
- Depth Range Max
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- 780