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Distribution and comments on the morphology of Centroscymnus owstonii Garman, 1906 (Squaliformes: Somniosidae), with focus on its occurrence in the Indian Ocean

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Abstract

The Roughskin Dogfish Centroscymnus owstonii is one of the most widespread deepwater shark species, but its global distribution is mostly based on patchy records. In this study, C. owstonii was reinvestigated with focus on its poorly known distribution in the western and eastern Indian Ocean. Previous records of the species from the Seychelles, which, for decades, were considered to be of a different species, were verified in this study. Furthermore, the first records from off Reunion Island, Madagascar, and Indonesia are provided, including the smallest free-swimming specimen of the species described in detail to date. Based on these specimens, a description of C. owstonii is given with updated and extended morphometric data, photographic documentation and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of dermal denticles. Additionally, specimens from the Indian Ocean are compared with specimens from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. For the Pacific Ocean, the first record from the central western North Pacific is provided from the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. This record also represents the most open ocean known occurrence of C. owstonii.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the following museum staff for their assistance and support in accessing collection material: Oliver Crimmen and James Maclaine (BMNH, London); Mamoru Yabe and Toshio Kawai (HUMZ, Hakodate). We are grateful to Nigel R. Merrett (BMNH) for comments on the two specimens from the Seychelles Islands at BMNH, Irina Eidus (ZMH) for help with the radiography, Matthias F.W. Stehmann (ICHTHYS) who collected the ‘Vityaz’ specimens and provided information about the expedition, Dave Ebert and Paul Clerkin (MLML) for providing collection data for the two Centroscymnus owstonii specimens from the western Indian Ocean at AMNH, Dave Ebert for information about three specimens of C. owstonii from off Mossel Bay (South Africa), Alastair Graham (CSIRO) who provided registration numbers and data for Australian and Indonesian specimens, Dharmadi (Research Centre for Fisheries and Conservation Management, Jakarta) and Fahmi (Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta) for their help in the field in Indonesian fish markets, Hajime Ishihara (W&I Associates Co. Ltd., Japan) and Karsten Hartel (MCZ) for providing additional information on the type locality of C. owstonii. DFBV and MRC were supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) through grants 2012/07712-3, 2013/13137-4, 2012/09877-0, 2012/02349-5, 2012/05152-0, 2012/05391-5, and 2013/05292-0, and CNPq (155593/2012-9; 304615/2011-0); DFBV is currently funded by the Graduate Support Package from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary; WW was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (Jaws and Backbone: Chondrichthyan Phylogeny and a Spine for the Vertebrate Tree of Life; DEB-01132229) and the CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship.

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Correspondence to Simon Weigmann.

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Communicated by P. Martinez Arbizu

Appendix

Appendix

Additional specimens examined that were not measured in detail:

Centroscymnus coelolepis (25 specimens): ZMH 100227 (ex ISH 570–1953), adult female 1105 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°10’N, 12°02’W, 450 m depth, 11 Jun 1953; ZMH 100815 (ex ISH 133–1959), adult male 891 mm TL, 63°09’N, 13°08’W, 730–760 m depth, 03 May 1959; ZMH 101577 (ex ISH 31–1963), adult male 895 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 62°58’N, 23°40’W, 640–650 m depth, 21 Mar 1963; ZMH 102358 (ex ISH 755–1964), juvenile male 750 mm TL and female 850 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°13’N, 25°50’W, 810 m depth, 17 Mar 1964; ZMH 102817 (ex ISH 848–1964), female 830 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°06’N, 21°33’W, 750–800 m depth, 09 Apr 1964; ZMH 111346 (ex ISH 151–1973), male 860 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 64°53’N, 28°02.5’W, 930–1040 m depth, 12 Sep 1973; ZMH 111765 (ex ISH 190–1973), juvenile male 760 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°14’N, 25°40’W, 749–777 m depth, 16 Sep 1973; ZMH 119669 (ex ISH 3450–1971), 4 juvenile males 385, 406, 430 and 452 mm TL, northwestern Atlantic, 39°11.5’N, 72°13’W, 1000–1050 m depth, 27 Oct 1979; ZMH 119684 (ex ISH 3415–1979), juvenile males 360 and 422 mm TL, northwestern Atlantic, 39°50’N, 70°55’W, 1004–1008 m depth, 26 Oct 1979; ZMH 119799 (ex ISH 3707–1979), juvenile male 531 mm TL, northwestern Atlantic, 39°46.3’N, 71°33’W, 824–844 m depth, 14 Nov 1979; ZMH 119808 (ex ISH 3698–1979), 3 juvenile males 480, 560 and 641 mm TL and a juvenile female 691 mm TL, northwestern Atlantic, 39°46’N, 71°28’W, 1000–1016 m depth, 14 Nov 1979; ZMH 119896 (ex ISH 3706–1979), juvenile female 347 mm TL, northwestern Atlantic, 39°46.3’N, 71°33’W, 824–844 m depth, 14 Nov 1979; ZMH 119929 (ex ISH 3541–1979), adult female 1110 mm TL, northwestern Atlantic, 31°03’N, 77°49’W, 1007–1016 m depth, 02 Nov 1979; ZMH 119939 (ex ISH 3697–1979), 2 juvenile females 323 and 368 mm TL, northwestern Atlantic, 39°46’N, 71°28’W, 1000–1016 m depth, 14 Nov 1979; ZMH 120249 (ex ISH 9–1981), 2 female embryos 273 and 276 mm TL and 2 male embryos 277 and 280 mm TL (4 of 6 embryos from pregnant female 1070 mm TL), northeastern Atlantic, 49°28.6’N, 12°11.8’W – 49°31’N, 12°05’W, 1195–1265 m depth, 07 May 1981; ZMH 120581 (ex ISH 1049–1982), juvenile male 314 mm TL, off Mauritania, 17°22.2’N, 16°55’W, 1175–1205 m depth, 12 Feb 1982; ZMH 123523 (ex ISH 150–1992), juvenile female 642 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 51°20’N, 12°06’W, 1580 m depth, 16 Sep 1992; ZMH 123533 (ex ISH 170–1992), juvenile female 790 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 57°32’N, 09°46’W, 1300 m depth, 07 Oct 1992.

Centroselachus crepidater (42 specimens): ZMH 26041, juvenile male, 316 mm TL fresh, RV ‘Vityaz’ Cruise 17, Station 2721, Walters Shoals, 33°25’18”S, 43°37’30”E – 33°26’48”S, 43°36’24”E, 970–1030 m depth, 17 Dec 1988; ZMH 101566 (ex ISH 27–1963), 3 males 550, 570 and 630 mm TL and 2 females 580 and 590 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°45’N, 26°40’W, 760–810 m depth, 18 Mar 1963; ZMH 101567 (ex ISH 57–1963), male 620 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°45’N, 26°40’W, 760–810 m depth, 18 Mar 1963; ZMH 101806 (ex ISH 69–1964), females 780 and 790 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 60°49’N, 09°56’W, 730 m depth, 26 Jan 1964; ZMH 101820 (ex ISH 45–1964), female 840 mm TL and juvenile male 300 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 60°21’N, 11°54’W, 710–740 m depth, 24 Jan 1964; ZMH 102592 (ex ISH 800–1964), 4 juvenile females 270, 280, 280 and 360 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°06’N, 21°33’W, 750–800 m depth, 09 Apr 1964; ZMH 102598 (ex ISH 825–1964), female 810 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 65°13’N, 27°38’W, 650 m depth, 05 Apr 1964; ZMH 103175 (ex ISH 68–1965), juvenile male 300 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°05’N, 23°38’W, 700 m depth, 28 Apr 1965; ZMH 103176 (ex ISH 48–1965), juvenile female 300 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 62°43’N, 24°30’W, 730–780 m depth, 24 Apr 1965; ZMH 103179 (ex ISH 83–1965), juvenile male 280 mm TL and juvenile female 300 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°00’N, 22°06’W, 800 m depth, 29 Apr 1965; ZMH 103185 (ex ISH 95–1965), 11 embryos (from litter of 13) 260–300 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 63°03’N, 20°30’W, 700–750 m depth, 30 Apr 1965; ZMH 112225 (ex ISH 27–1974), 2 juvenile females 303 and 360 mm TL and juvenile male 460 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 60°03’N, 13°25’W – 60°03’N, 13°12’W, 804 m depth, 08 May 1974; ZMH 120397 (ex ISH 372–1981), male 600 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 60°18.8’N, 10°37.3’W, 996–1002 m depth, 26 Sep 1981; ZMH 120610 (ex ISH 1041–1982), adult male 540 mm TL, off Mauritania, 21°15.8’N, 17°48.5’W, 787–807 m depth, 07 Feb 1982; ZMH 122700 (ex ISH 432–1986), 2 juvenile males 290 and 310 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 57°37.9’N, 18°12.9’W, 990–1006 m depth, 01 July 1986; ZMH 123515 (ex ISH 125–1992), juvenile male 525 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 51°35’N, 13°05’W, 1300–1380 m depth, 22 Sep 1992; ZMH 123519 (ex ISH 148–1992), female 735 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 51°20’N, 12°06’W, 1580 m depth, 16 Sep 1992; ZMH 123540 (ex ISH 133–1992), female 760 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 56°48’N, 13°24’W, 1300–1320 m depth, 17 Oct 1992; ZMH 123541 (ex ISH 157–1992), adult male 623 mm TL and female 767 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 56°44’N, 09°18’W, 1355 m depth, 10 Oct 1992; ZMH 123547 (ex ISH 135–1992), adult female 788 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 58°37’N, 08°59’W, 1285–1300 m depth, 24 Oct 1992; ZMH 123548 (ex ISH 138–1992), adult female 835 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 59°01’N, 07°W, 1320 m depth, 26 Oct 1992; ZMH 123554 (ex ISH 162–1992),4 females 684, 762, 766 and 798 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 56°33’N, 09°33’W, 1400–1500 m depth, 04 Nov 1992; ZMH 123555 (ex ISH 141–1992), adult female 797 mm TL, northeastern Atlantic, 56°44’N, 09°33’W, 1400–1992 m depth, 04 Nov 1992.

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Weigmann, S., Vaz, D.F.B., White, W.T. et al. Distribution and comments on the morphology of Centroscymnus owstonii Garman, 1906 (Squaliformes: Somniosidae), with focus on its occurrence in the Indian Ocean. Mar Biodiv 46, 641–653 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-015-0413-x

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