Find a Fish
Southern Mandarin Dogfish
Cirrhigaleus australis White, Last & Stevens, 2007
All images: A Southern Mandarin Dogfish caught on longline by R. "Smokey" Fanthan on FV Catherine J, at a depth of 400 m, south-east of Green Cape, New South Wales, November 2003 ( AMS I.42891-001). Photo: T. Trnski © Australian Museum. View larger image.
Head of a Southern Mandarin Dogfish. Note the long nasal lobes, large eye and large spiracle. Photo: T. Trnski © Australian Museum. View larger image.
Dorsal and pelvic fins of a Southern Mandarin Dogfish. Note the long spines in front of both dorsal fins. Photo: T. Trnski © Australian Museum. View larger image.
The Southern Mandarin Dogfish has two widely spaced dorsal fins that are both preceded by a long spine. There is a pair of long nasal lobes on the underside of the snout.
It is grey-brown above and pale below. The posterior margins of the pectoral and pelvic fins are white.
The species grows to 1.2 m in length.
The Southern Mandarin Dogfish occurs in continental slope waters (360 m - 640 m depth) of south-eastern Australia and from the Bay of Plenty region, North Island, New Zealand.
In Australia it is known from off the Sydney region, New South Wales to off eastern Tasmania.
For many years the species was confused with the Mandarin Shark, Cirrhigaleus barbifer, which occurs in the western North Pacific and Indonesia. The two species can be distinguished by morphology and differences in the CO1 gene. The Southern Mandarin Dogfish has a smaller eye, shorter dorsal-caudal space and smaller pectoral fins, dorsal fins and spines.
Related links
- View the Sharks list
- View the Family Squalidae list
Further reading
- Last, P.R. & J.D. Stevens. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. CSIRO. Pp. 513.
- White, W.T., Last, P.R. & J.D. Stevens. 2007. Cirrhigaleus australis n. sp., a new Mandarin dogfish (Squaliformes: Squalidae) from the south-west Pacific. Zootaxa. 1560: 19-30.
