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Gulper Shark
Dwarf Gulper Shark
Common Name: Gulper Shark
Scientific Name: Centophorus granulosus
Description
The gulper shark,
Centophorus granulosus, belongs to the family Centrophoridae.
The gulper shark was originally described as Squalus granulosus
by Bloch and Schneider in 1801. The current valid scientific
name for the gulper shark is Centophorus granulosus.
The genus word, Centrophorus is derived from
the Greek words kentron meaning "thorn" and pherein meaning
"to bear" in reference to the spines that all dogfish bear
on both the first and second dorsal fins. The gulper shark
is fished with a variety of methods including bottom trawls,
hook and line, or with pelagic trawls in the eastern Atlantic.
Although sometimes caught as bycatch, some deepwater longline
fisheries do target this species
Range & Habitat
Range:
The gulper shark
occurs globally in tropical to temperate marine waters. The
gulper shark has been noted in the eastern and western north
Atlantic and also common in Portugal, Senegal, the
Ivory Coast and Nigeria to France and along the coast of North
America around North Carolina and the Gulf
of Mexico.
Habitat:
The gulper shark
is a bathydemersal, living and feeding at depths exceeding
656 ft (200m), marine, deep-water dogfish most commonly found
between 328 ft and 3937 ft (100 -1,200 meters). The gulper
shark is commonly observed along the outer continental shelves
and upper slopes, usually on or near the bottom substrate.
Biology
The
gulper shark is a slim, relatively long dogfish with
two dorsal fins bearing long grooved spines. The second dorsal
fin is shorter than the first, and its base is about three-fourths
the length of the first dorsal fin. The distance from the
first and second dorsal fins is equal to the distance from
the tip of the snout to the axil of the pectoral fin. The
color of the gulper shark is olive-grey to grey-brown or sandy
grey to brown dorsally and lighter ventrally with no obvious
markings in adults; juveniles may be lighter
and may have dusky tips on the dorsal and caudal fins.
Size, Age & Growth
The
maximum total length recorded for the gulper shark
is 5 ft (150 cm). Gulper shark pups average from 1 ft - 1.4
ft (30-42 cm) total length at birth. Precise details of the
size, age, and growth, such as size at maturity for the gulper
shark, are currently unknown.
Reproduction
The
gulper shark is ovoviviparous with a gestation period
of about 2 years. At birth, each pup measures approximately
1 ft - 1.4 ft (30-42 cm) total length. Further details of
the reproductive biology of the gulper shark have yet to be
determined.
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