Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes
(Ground sharks) > Hemigaleidae
Etymology: Paragaleus: Greek, para = the side of + Greek, galeos = a kind of shark (Ref. 45335).
Environment / Climate / Range
Marine; demersal; depth range ? - 100 m (Ref. 5578), usually 30 - 70 m (Ref. 10730). Tropical; 30°N -
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 75 - 90 cm
Max length : 140 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5578); common length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26999)
soft rays: 0. A slender weasel shark with a moderately long snout, large eyes, and a short, small mouth with small, serrated upper teeth and erect-cusped lower teeth (Ref. 5578). Light grey or bronze with longitudinal yellow stripes, fins plain; white below (Ref. 5578).
Eastern Atlantic: Cape Verde and Mauritania to northern Namibia (Ref. 244, 5578); possibly extending north to Morocco. Record from the Northwest Atlantic, specifically in New England, has not been verified even after an extensive survey of the area has been conducted.
A very common inshore to offshore shark of the continental shelf occurring at depths of a few meters to slightly over 100 m (Ref. 244). A specialist feeder that prefers cephalopods, also feeds on small bony fishes (Ref. 244). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Utilized fresh and dried salted for human consumption, and processed into fishmeal (Ref. 244).
Compagno, L.J.V., 1984. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 244)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)
CITES (Ref. 94142)
Threat to humans
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
CollaboratorsPicturesStamps, CoinsSoundsCiguateraSpeedSwim. typeGill areaOtolithsBrainsVision
Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.5664 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00372 (0.00141 - 0.00980), b=3.11 (2.88 - 3.34), based on LWR estimates for this Subfamily-body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278
): 4.3 ±0.64 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278
): Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Fec=1).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): High vulnerability (63 of 100) .