Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Planonasus indicus sp. n., a new species of pygmy false catshark (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Pseudotriakidae), with a revised diagnosis of the genus and key to the family

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Marine Biodiversity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A new species of the genus Planonasus is described from off southwestern India and Sri Lanka in the northern Indian Ocean. The new species occurs along the upper continental slope from 200 to 1000 m deep and was landed in fisheries for gulper sharks (Centrophorus spp.). Planonasus indicus sp. n. externally closely resembles P. parini (Carcharhiniformes: Pseudotriakidae), the only other member of the genus. It can be distinguished from P. parini by a combination of morphological characters including absence of oral papillae, lack of a distinct white mark on the free rear tip of the first dorsal fin, sides and underside of head, as well as fin edges that are similar in color as body (vs. dusky), more tooth rows in the lower jaw, shorter labial furrows, longer and less high spiracles, proportionally higher, more angular dorsal fins, especially the second dorsal fin, proportionally longer pectoral fins, a proportionally larger anal fin, longer distances from the snout tip to the origins of the caudal fin, both dorsal fins and the pelvic fins, as well as to the vent, and shorter distances for preorbital snout, prepectoral length, pelvic midpoint to second dorsal fin origin, and pelvic-anal space. A revised diagnosis of the genus and key to the family is also provided.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23
Fig. 24
Fig. 25
Fig. 26

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adam MS, Merrett NR, Anderson RC (1998) Additions to the fish fauna of the Maldive Islands, part 1: an annotated checklist of the deep demersal fishes of the Maldive Islands. Ichthyol Bull JLB Smith Inst Ichthyol 67(1):1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhilesh KV, Hashim M, Bineesh KK, Shanis CPR, Ganga U (2010) New distributional records of deep-sea sharks from Indian waters. J Mar Biol Ass India 52:29–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhilesh KV, Ganga U, Pillai NGK, Vivekanandan E, Bineesh KK, Shanis CPR, Hashim M (2011) Deep-sea fishing for chondrichthyan resources and sustainability concerns—a case study from southwest coast of India. Indian J Geo Mar Sci 40(3):347–355

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhilesh KV, Bineesh KK, Gopalakrishnan A, Jena JK, Basheer VS, Pillai NGK (2014) Checklist of Chondrichthyans in Indian waters. J Mar Biol Ass India 56(1):109–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amante C, Eakins BW (2009) ETOPO1 1 arc-minute global relief model: procedures, Data Sources and Analysis NOAA Tech Mem NEDIS NGDC-24, 19 pp

  • Anderson RC, Ahmed H (1993) The shark fisheries of the Maldives. Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Republic of Maldives and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 76 pp

  • Compagno LJV (1973) Ctenacis and Gollum, two new genera of sharks (Selachii; Carcharhinidae). Proc Cal Acad Sci (Series 4) 39(14):257–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Compagno LJV (1984) FAO species catalogue. Vol. 4, Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. FAO Fish Synop 4(1), 125, 249 pp

  • Compagno LJV (1988) Sharks of the order Carcharhiniformes. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 445 pp

  • Compagno LJV (1999) Checklist of living elasmobranchs. In: Hamlett WC (ed) Sharks, skates, and rays: the biology of elasmobranch fishes. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA, pp 471–498

  • Compagno LJV (2005) Checklist of living Chondrichthyes. In: Hamlett WC (ed) Reproductive biology and phylogeny of chondrichthyes: sharks, batoids, and chimaeras. Science Publishers, Inc., Enfield, New Hampshire, USA, pp. 501–548

  • Compagno LJV, Dando M, Fowler S (2005) A field guide to the sharks of the world. Harper Collins Publishing Ltd., London, p 368

    Google Scholar 

  • de Brito Capello F (1868) Description de trois nouveaux poissons des mers du Portugal. J Sci Math Phys Nat Lisboa 1(4):318–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebert DA (2013) Deep-sea cartilaginous fishes of the Indian Ocean. Vol. 1. Sharks. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes 8(1). Rome: FAO, 256 pp.

  • Ebert DA, Fowler S, Compagno LJV (2013) Sharks of the world: a fully illustrated guide to the sharks of the world. Wild Nature Press, p 528

  • Ebert DA, De Silva RI, Goonewardena ML (2017) First record of the dwarf false catshark, Planonasus parini (Carcharhiniformes: Pseudotriakidae) from Sri Lanka. Loris 27(5&6): 63–64. December 2016 [2017].

  • Fowler HW (1941) The fishes of the groups Elasmobranchii, Holocephali, Isospondyli, and Ostariophysi obtained by United States Bureau of Fisheries Steamer Albatross in 1907 to 1910, chiefly in the Philippine Islands and adjacent seas. Bull US Natl Mus 100: i-x, 1–879, Figs. 1–30.

  • Garrick JAF (1954) Studies on New Zealand Elasmobranchii. Part III. A new species of Triakis (Selachii) from New Zealand. T Roy Soc New Zeal 82:695–702

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill T (1893) Families and subfamilies of fishes. Mem Natl Acad Sci 6:127–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer Ø, Harper DAT, Ryan PD (2001) PAST: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontol Electron 4(1):1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Jabado RW, Ebert DA (2015) Sharks of the Arabian Seas: an identification guide. The International Fund for Animal Welfare, Dubai, p 240

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan DS, Evermann BW (1896) The fishes of North and Middle America. Bull US Natl Mus 47:1–1240

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan DS, Snyder JO (1904) On a collection of fishes made by Mr. Alan Owston in the deep waters of Japan. Smiths Misc Coll 45:230–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Last PR, Stevens JD (2009) Sharks and rays of Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 644 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Last PR, Gaudiano JP (2011) Gollum suluensis sp. nov. (Carcharhiniformes: Pseudotriakidae), a new gollumshark from the southern Philippines. Zootaxa 3002:17–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musick JA, Ellis JK (2005) Reproductive evolution of chondrichthyans. In: Hamlett WC (ed) Reproductive biology and phylogeny of chondrichthyes: sharks, batoids, and chimaeras, Science Publishers. Inc. Enfield, NH, pp 45–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Naylor GJP, Caira JN, Jensen K, Rosana KAM, White WT, Last PR (2012a) A DNA sequence-based approach to the identification of shark and ray species and its implications for global elasmobranch diversity and parasitology. B Am Mus Nat Hist 367(1):1–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naylor GJP, Caira JN, Jensen K, Kerri, Rosana KAM, Straube N, Lakner C.(2012b) Elasmobranch phylogeny: a mitochondrial estimate based on 595 species. In: Carrier JC, Musick JA, Heithaus MR (eds) Biology of sharks and their relatives, 2nd edition. CRC Press, Boca Raton, London, New York, pp. 31–56.

  • Nelson JS (2006) Fishes of the world. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Jersey, p 601

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabaj MH (ed) (2016) Standard symbolic codes for institutional resource collections in herpetology and ichthyology: an online reference. Version 5.0. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Washington, DC. http://www.asih.org/, Accessed 17 Nov 2017

  • Teng HT (1958) Studies on the elasmobranch fishes from Formosa. Part 1. Eighteen unrecorded species of sharks from Formosa. Taiwan Fish Res Inst Lab Fish Biol Rep 3:1–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Teng HT (1962) Classification and distribution of the Chondrichthyes of Taiwan. Ogawa Press, Maizuru, Japan, p 304

    Google Scholar 

  • Weigmann S (2016) Annotated checklist of the living sharks, batoids and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of the world, with a focus on biogeographical diversity. J Fish Biol 88(3):837–1037

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weigmann S, Stehmann MFW, Thiel R (2013) Planonasus parini n. g. and n. sp., a new genus and species of false cat sharks (Carchariniformes, Pseudotriakidae) from the deep northwestern Indian Ocean off Socotra Islands. Zootaxa 3609(2):163–181

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yano K (1993) Reproductive biology of the slender smoothhound, Gollum attenuatus, collected from New Zealand waters. Environ Biol Fish 38:59–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The following individuals are sincerely thanked for their assistance and support on various aspects of this project: SciGraphics (http://www.scigraphics.de) for making the drawings for the key to the family; Dave Catania and Jon Fong (California Academy Sciences), the Director, ICAR-CMFRI, for the facilities and support provided; Ganga, Hashim, Bineesh, and Shanis for their support in field and lab; Daniel Fernando, Akshay Tanna, Rosalind Brown, and Gobiraj (Blue Resources Trust, Sri Lanka); Jann and Tom Rudkin and the REX Fund at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute; Kirsten Jensen (University of Kansas), Janine N. Caira (University of Connecticut), Loren Caira, and Marsha Englebrecht for logistical and financial support of the 2018 expedition during which the paratype specimen from Sri Lanka was collected; Ralf Thiel (ZMH) for granting access to the specimens in the ZMH collection for examinations and to photo- and radiography facilities at ZMH; Irina Eidus (ZMH) for her help with the radiography and collection database; Nicolas Straube (ZSM) for his help with taking photographs of the opened mouth of the holotype of Planonasus parini and for kindly helping with the PCA; and Alastair Graham, Peter Last, and John Pogonoski (CSIRO) for providing information regarding the absence of an interdorsal ridge in Gollum, as well as photographs of teeth and collection data of G. attenuatus and G. suluensis. Moss Landing Marine Laboratories provided additional support for this project.

Funding

Jann and Tom Rudkin and the REX Fund at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute supported the 2018 Sri Lanka expedition where the paratype (BRT-I:0029) was collected.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Shark Research Center, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, 95039, USA

    David A. Ebert

  2. Research Associate, Department of Ichthyology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA

    David A. Ebert

  3. Research Associate, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    David A. Ebert

  4. ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, PB No. 1603, Kochi, Kerala, 682 018, India

    K. V. Akhilesh

  5. Elasmo-Lab, Elasmobranch Research Laboratory, Schlägertwiete 5b, 21335, Lüneburg, Germany

    Simon Weigmann

  6. Associated Scientist, Center of Natural History, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Simon Weigmann

Authors
  1. David A. Ebert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K. V. Akhilesh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Simon Weigmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David A. Ebert.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for care and use of animals were followed by the authors.

Sampling and field studies

All necessary permits for sampling and observational field studies have been obtained by the authors from the competent authorities and are mentioned in the acknowledgements.

Additional information

Communicated by R. Thiel

The species is registered in ZooBank under urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 875D2E01-8073-4842-934F-2C279FAED8CF

The article is registered in ZooBank under urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub: B7737C4B-AE40-4128-A65C-2C646FDB0B07

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ebert, D.A., Akhilesh, K.V. & Weigmann, S. Planonasus indicus sp. n., a new species of pygmy false catshark (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Pseudotriakidae), with a revised diagnosis of the genus and key to the family. Mar Biodiv 49, 1321–1341 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-018-0915-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-018-0915-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation