The Papuan lanternshark (''Etmopterus samadiae'') is a species of shark in the family Etmopteridae, found in areas of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Description

The Papuan lanternshark is small and slender, with males at 26 cm, and females at 28 cm in length. It can be recognized by its closest congeners. It also has a long caudal base marking, and marks in the

shape A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie on ...

of a dash. The teeth are different from the upper and lower jaw; the upper teeth are

multicuspid The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...

, and have three functional series, while the teeth on the lower jaw are

unicuspid A unicuspid is a tooth that has only one cusp. In shrews The dental formulas of shrews are distinguished by the number of unicuspids. All shrews have (in one half of each jaw) one large incisor followed by a variable number of unicuspids, follow ...

in one series. The lower jaw has up to 35 teeth, while the upper jaw has only up to 33.

Habitat and distribution

It is a

bathypelagic The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelagic ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

, found ranging from depths from 340 to 785 meters, in the Western Pacific.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q46644240 Papuan lanternshark Fish of Papua New Guinea Papuan lanternshark