First record of the rare deep-sea shark, Scymnodon ichiharai Yano and Tanaka, 1984 (Squaliformes: Somniosidae) from Andaman Waters, India

Abstract

The Japanese velvet dogfish Scymnodon ichiharai Yano and Tanaka 1984 (Somniosidae) is a rare deep-sea shark hitherto known only from the northwest Pacific Ocean. This species is observed for the first time from the northern Indian Ocean. Two male specimens with total length (TL) of 760 mm, and 323 mm were caught by longline hook in the commercial motorized longline boat fishery at a depth of 400 m off Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India. We provide morphological descriptions of S. ichiharai from India in comparison with formerly identified specimens along with DNA barcodes from this region. The capture of this species in the northern Indian Ocean is a considerable biogeographic range extension and confirms the first record of S. ichiharai from the Indian EEZ.