Odontaspis noronhai

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Bibliography

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	CHONDRICHTHYES	LAMNIFORMES	ODONTASPIDIDAE

Scientific Name:

Odontaspis noronhai

Species Authority:

(Maul, 1955)

Common Name/s:

English	–	Bigeye Sand Tiger
French	–	Requin Noronhai
Spanish	–	Solrayo Ojigrande

Synonym/s:

Carcharias noronhai Maul, 1955

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Data Deficient ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2005

Assessor/s:

Amorim, A.F., Arfelli, C.A. & Fagundes, L.

Reviewer/s:

Musick, J.A. & Fowler, S.L. (Shark Red List Authority)

Justification:
This assessment is based on the information published in the 2005 shark status survey (Fowler et al. 2005).

The Bigeye Sand Tiger (Odontaspis noronhai) is a rare pelagic deepwater shark that is sparsely but widely distributed in tropical and warm-temperate waters, apparently an inhabitant of continental and insular slopes. It is so infrequently recorded that its biology and population status is unknown. Its life cycle and biology is likely to be similar to that of C. taurus, which has been found to be particularly vulnerable to fisheries, although Odontaspis noronhai matures at an even larger size.

History:

2000

–

Data Deficient

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This shark is very rarely recorded, but apparently with a wide but disjunct distribution in the Atlantic (centre of distribution possibly in Brazilian waters) and Pacific Oceans. Odontaspis noronhai (Maul 1955), was described from a single specimen from Madeira, caught in 1941. There were no further records, until nine specimens were reported from Brazilian waters (24ºS? 44ºW) in 1981. Two more specimens were also caught off Brazil from the same area in 1982 and 1984 and Sadowsky et al. (1984) provided the second published record of this species and confirmed its existence. Further records of single fish have been reported from the Gulf of Mexico (1984) and Madeira (1952) (Branstetter and McEachran 1986), Hawaii (Humphreys et al. 1989) and southern Brazil (31ºS?49ºW, in 1991) (Araujo and Teixeira 1993). The species was also seen another nine times from November 1982 to April 1985 at 23º?26ºS and again in 1989 (U.L. Gomes pers. comm.). A jaw of O. noronhai has been collected from the Indian Ocean or South China Sea (Sadowsky et al. 1984) and some teeth were also collected from bottom deposits in the central North Pacific, although not clearly identified as O. noronhai (Belyaev and Glikman 1970).
Countries:	Native: Brazil; Mexico; Portugal (Madeira); United States (Hawaiian Is.)
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – southwest; Pacific – eastern central Presence uncertain: Indian Ocean – western
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population Trend:	Unknown

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Very little information has been collected from the few specimens obtained. The maximum size reported was 367cm total length (TL) (male). A female of 321 cm TL was still immature. The reproduction of this species is presumably similar to that of the better-known laminids (oviphagous, see above).
Systems:	Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Odontaspis noronhai is rarely captured by fishing. All catches of O. noronhai from Brazil were made by tuna longliners based in Santos, except the one from southern Brazil, caught by gillnet (Sadowsky et al. 1984, Araújo and Teixeira 1993, Amorim et al. 1998). Presumably it is taken occasionally by deepwater fisheries with line and net gear, including pelagic gillnets, purse-seines and deep-set longlines. It may live mostly below the depths normally fished by horizontal pelagic longlines and purse-seines and is possibly too large to be a regular bottom or pelagic trawl catch (Compagno 2001).

Major Threat(s):

Odontaspis noronhai is rarely captured by fishing. All catches of O. noronhai from Brazil were made by tuna longliners based in Santos, except the one from southern Brazil, caught by gillnet (Sadowsky et al. 1984, Araújo and Teixeira 1993, Amorim et al. 1998). Presumably it is taken occasionally by deepwater fisheries with line and net gear, including pelagic gillnets, purse-seines and deep-set longlines. It may live mostly below the depths normally fished by horizontal pelagic longlines and purse-seines and is possibly too large to be a regular bottom or pelagic trawl catch (Compagno 2001).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	None.

Conservation Actions:

None.

Bibliography [top]

	Amorim, A.F., Arfelli C.A. and Fagundes, L. 1998. Pelagic elasmobranchs caught by longliners off southern Brazil during 1974?97: an overview. Marine and Freshwater Research 49: 621?632. Araújo, M.L.G. and Teixeira, S.F. 1993. Primeiro registro da mangona, Odontaspis noronhai na costa do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. RESUMOS-VI Reuniao de Grupo de Trabalho sobre Pesca e Pesquisa de Tubaroes e Raias no Brasil, 1, Recife. Atlântica. Belyaev, G.M. and Glikman, L.S. 1970. The teeth of sharks on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Transactions of the P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology Akademy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow 88: 252?276. Branstetter, S. and McEachran, D. 1986. A first record of Odontaspis noronhai (Lamniformes: Odontaspididae) for the Western North Atlantic, with notes on two uncommon sharks from the Gulf of Mexico. Northeast Gulf Science 8(2): 153?160. Compagno, L.J.V. 2001. Sharks of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the shark species known to date. Volume 2. Bullhead, mackerel and carpet sharks (Heterodontiformes, Lamniformes and Orectolobiformes). FAO, Rome. Fowler, S.L., Cavanagh, R.D., Camhi, M., Burgess, G.H., Cailliet, G.M., Fordham, S.V., Simpfendorfer, C.A. and Musick, J.A. (comps and eds). 2005. Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras: The Status of the Chondrichthyan Fishes. Status Survey. pp. x + 461. IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Humphreys, R.L., Moffitt, R.B. and Seki, M.P. 1989. First Pacific Record of the bigeye sand tiger shark, Odontaspis noronhai (Lamniformes: Odontaspididae). Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 36(3): 357?362. Sadowsky, V., Amorim, A.F. and Arfelli, C.A. 1984. Second occurrence of Odontaspis noronhai (Maul, 1955). Boletim do Instituto de Pesca 11: 69?79.

Amorim, A.F., Arfelli C.A. and Fagundes, L. 1998. Pelagic elasmobranchs caught by longliners off southern Brazil during 1974?97: an overview. Marine and Freshwater Research 49: 621?632.

Araújo, M.L.G. and Teixeira, S.F. 1993. Primeiro registro da mangona, Odontaspis noronhai na costa do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. RESUMOS-VI Reuniao de Grupo de Trabalho sobre Pesca e Pesquisa de Tubaroes e Raias no Brasil, 1, Recife. Atlântica.

Belyaev, G.M. and Glikman, L.S. 1970. The teeth of sharks on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Transactions of the P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology Akademy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow 88: 252?276.

Branstetter, S. and McEachran, D. 1986. A first record of Odontaspis noronhai (Lamniformes: Odontaspididae) for the Western North Atlantic, with notes on two uncommon sharks from the Gulf of Mexico. Northeast Gulf Science 8(2): 153?160.

Compagno, L.J.V. 2001. Sharks of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the shark species known to date. Volume 2. Bullhead, mackerel and carpet sharks (Heterodontiformes, Lamniformes and Orectolobiformes). FAO, Rome.

Fowler, S.L., Cavanagh, R.D., Camhi, M., Burgess, G.H., Cailliet, G.M., Fordham, S.V., Simpfendorfer, C.A. and Musick, J.A. (comps and eds). 2005. Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras: The Status of the Chondrichthyan Fishes. Status Survey. pp. x + 461. IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Humphreys, R.L., Moffitt, R.B. and Seki, M.P. 1989. First Pacific Record of the bigeye sand tiger shark, Odontaspis noronhai (Lamniformes: Odontaspididae). Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 36(3): 357?362.

Sadowsky, V., Amorim, A.F. and Arfelli, C.A. 1984. Second occurrence of Odontaspis noronhai (Maul, 1955). Boletim do Instituto de Pesca 11: 69?79.

Citation:	Amorim, A.F., Arfelli, C.A. & Fagundes, L. 2005. Odontaspis noronhai. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2012.
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