Pocket shark
Encyclopedia
The pocket shark, Mollisquama parini, is a sleeper shark of the family
Dalatiidae
, the only member
of the genus
Mollisquama, found in deep water off Chile
in the southeast Pacific Ocean
.
The pocket shark is a very poorly known deepwater shark recorded from the Nazca Submarine Ridge
off northern Chile. The holotype, and only known specimen, was an adult female (40 cm total length (TL)), taken at a depth of 330 m. Nothing is known of its biology or threats in the area.
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...
Dalatiidae
Dalatiidae
Dalatiidae is a family of sharks in the order Squaliformes, commonly known as kitefin sharks . Members of this family are small, under long, and are found worldwide. They have cigar-shaped bodies with narrow heads and rounded snouts...
, the only member
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Mollisquama, found in deep water off Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
in the southeast 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 pocket shark is a very poorly known deepwater shark recorded from the Nazca Submarine Ridge
Chile Rise
The Chile Rise or Chile Ridge is an oceanic ridge, a tectonic divergent plate boundary between the Nazca and Antarctic Plates. Its eastern end is the Chile Triple Junction where the Chile Rise is being subducted below the South American Plate in the Peru-Chile Trench...
off northern Chile. The holotype, and only known specimen, was an adult female (40 cm total length (TL)), taken at a depth of 330 m. Nothing is known of its biology or threats in the area.