The bareskin dogfish (''Centroscyllium kamoharai'') is a little-known, deepwater

dogfish Dogfish may refer to: Biology * Dogfish sharks (Squalidae), a family of sharks **Spiny dogfish (''Squalus acanthias''), best known species of dogfish sharks **Pacific spiny dogfish (''Squalus suckleyi''), the most abundant species of dogfish sha ...

shark of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Etmopteridae The Etmopteridae are a family of sharks in the order Squaliformes, commonly known as lantern sharks. Their name comes from the presence of light-producing photophores on their bodies. The members of this family are small, under long, and are ...

. This species is found in the western

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

from southern

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to western and southeastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

as well as in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

waters. The bareskin dogfish has no

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

. It has grooved dorsal spines with the second larger than the first, a smaller first

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

, blunt nose, large eyes, large nostrils, widely spaced and sparse denticles, and is dark in color with white-tipped fins. It is stout and grows to a maximum of 40 cm.FAO Species Catalogue Volume 4 Parts 1, Sharks of the World Like other species in the family Etmopteridae (lanternsharks), the bareskin dogfish has a

bioluminescent Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms inc ...

organ on the ventral side; however, perhaps owing to the depth at which the species lives, it has relatively fewer

photophores A photophore is a specialized anatomical structure found in a variety of organisms that emits light through the process of Bioluminescence, boluminescence. This light may be produced endogenously by the organism itself (symbiotic) or generat ...

on its ventral skin than other bioluminescent sharks.

Conservation status

The New Zealand

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

has classified the bareskin dogfish as "Data Deficient" under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had s ...

References

Centroscyllium Taxa named by Tokiharu Abe Fish described in 1966 {{Shark-stub