Echinorhinus brucus

– Data Deficient

Taxonomy

Kingdom:

ANIMALIA

Phylum:

CHORDATA

Class:

CHONDRICHTHYES

Order:

SQUALIFORMES

Family:

ECHINORHINIDAE

Scientific Name:

Echinorhinus brucus

Species Authority:

(Bonnaterre, 1788)

Common Name/s:

English

—

BRAMBLE SHARK, SPINOUS SHARK, SPINY SHARK

Taxonomic Notes:

Synonym = Echinorhinus (Rubusqualus) mccoyi Whitley, 1931.

Assessment Information

Red List Category & Criteria:	DD ver 3.1 (2001)
Year Assessed:	2003
Assessor/s:	Paul, L. (SSG Australia & Oceania Regional Workshop, March 2003)
Evaluator/s:	Fowler, S. & Cavanagh, R.D. (Shark Red List Authority)
Justification:	An apparently rare deepwater shark, recorded sporadically and usually singly at widely dispersed localities. It may be present at greater depths than are commercially fished, but this is only speculative. It reaches a large size and, although very little is known of its life history, it is likely to be a slow-growing, late-maturing species of low overall productivity. In the Northeast Atlantic there is published qualitative information on a decline in this species over recent decades. At present there is inadequate information to assess the conservation status of this species, however, since it is a known (albeit infrequent) component of fisheries bycatch with probable limiting life history characteristics and likely rare status, the species may well meet the criteria for a threatened category as more information becomes available.

Geographic Range

Range Description:

Range almost worldwide.

Countries:

Native:

Algeria; Argentina; Australia; Cyprus; Côte d'Ivoire; Egypt; France; Greece; India; Italy; Japan; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; New Zealand; Senegal; South Africa; Spain (Canary Is.); Tunisia; Turkey; United Kingdom; United States

Uncertain presence and origin:

Kiribati; Oman

FAO Marine Fishing Areas:

Native:

Atlantic-eastern central; Atlantic-northeast; Atlantic-northwest; Atlantic-southeast; Atlantic-southwest; Atlantic-western central; Indian Ocean-eastern; Pacific-northwest; Pacific-southwest

Uncertain presence and origin:

Indian Ocean-western; Pacific-western central

Population

Population:	Rare. There is no information on the existence, or likely existence of local populations, or on population size in any locality.
Population Trend:

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology:

Marine, living on or near the seafloor (as far as is known), on the upper and middle continental slope, mainly in 400 to 900 m (based on relatively few captures) but has also been taken in shallower water. Considered a sluggish shark, but may be capable of short rushes to capture prey (fishes, crustaceans).

Born 30 to 90 cm. Mature ~160 cm M, ~200 cm F. (these sizes are poorly known.) Maximum size ~310 cm. Ovoviviparous with 15 to 25 pups per litter, gestation period and reproductive cycle unknown.

Otherwise, almost nothing is known of the species’ biology.

System:

Marine

List of Habitats:

10.1	Marine Oceanic - Epipelagic (0-200m)

Threats

Threats:

Although rarely encountered, almost certainly an unreported bycatch in several deepwater trawl and line fisheries. Reportedly only used for fishmeal, but the liver oil has been used medicinally in at least South Africa. No population baseline or trends available, apart from a reported reduction in numbers in the north-east Atlantic (Quero and Emmonnet 1993, Quero and Cendrero 1996, Quero 1998).

Conservation Actions

Conservation Actions:

There are currently no conservation measures in place for this species.

List of Conservation Actions:

0	No conservation actions (in place)

Bibliography

Bibliography:

Barcellos, L.P. and Pinedo, M.C. 1980. On the occurrence of Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) on the southern coast of Brazil (Squaliformes: Squalidae). Iheringia, Ser. Zool. 56: 71–74.

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. FAO Fish. Synop. No. 125, vol. 4.

Garrick, J.A.F. 1960. Studies on New Zealand Elasmobranchii. Part X. The genus Echinorhinus, with an account of a second species, E. cookei Pietschmann, 1928, from New Zealand waters. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 88(1): 105–117.

Last, P.R. and Stevens, J.D. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. CSIRO, Australia.

Musick, J.A. and McEachran, J.D. 1969. The squaloid shark Echinorhinus brucus off Virginia. Copeia 1969(1): 205–206.

Quero, J-C. 1998. Changes in the Euro-Atlantic fish species composition resulting from fishing and ocean warming. Italian Journal of Zoology 65(supplement): 493–499.

Quero, J-C. and Cendrero, O. 1996. Effect of fishing on the ichthyological biodiversity of the Bassin d'Arcachon and the surrounding continental shelf. Cybium 20(4): 323–356.

Quero, J.C. and Emonnet, R. 1993. Disparition ou raréfaction d'espèces marines au large d'Archachon. In: Actes du III Colloque International ‘Océanographie du Golfe de Gascone’. pp. 221–225.

Shark Specialist Group. For more information, see the Specialist Group website.

Silas, E.G. and Selvaraj, G.S.D. 1972. Descriptions of the adult and embryo of the bramble shark Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre) obtained from the continental slope of India. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India 14(1): 395–401.

Stewart, A.L. 2001. Bramble sharks: prickly customers. Seafood New Zealand 9(3): 70–73.

Citation:	Paul, L. 2003. Echinorhinus brucus. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 05 September 2008.
Disclaimer:	To make use of this information, please check the Copyright and Data Disclaimer.
Feedback:	If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided.