New Caledonia catshark
Encyclopedia
The New Caledonia catshark, Aulohalaelurus kanakorum, is a catshark
of the family
Scyliorhinidae in the order Carcharhiniformes
, known only from one specimen collected near southwestern New Caledonia
in the western central Pacific Ocean
. The holotype
measured 79 cm.
The New Caledonia catshark is a rare and vulnerable inshore catshark found around coral reefs.
Catshark
Catsharks are ground sharks of the family Scyliorhinidae, with over 150 known species. While they are generally known as catsharks, many species are commonly called dogfish....
of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Scyliorhinidae in the order Carcharhiniformes
Carcharhiniformes
The ground sharks, order Carcharhiniformes, are the largest order of sharks. With over 270 species, carcharhiniforms include a number of common types, such as the blue shark, catsharks, swellsharks, and sandbar shark....
, known only from one specimen collected near southwestern New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
in the western central Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. The holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
measured 79 cm.
The New Caledonia catshark is a rare and vulnerable inshore catshark found around coral reefs.