Broadmouth Catshark, Apristurus macrostomus Zhu, Meng & Li 1985

Other Names: Broadmouth Cat Shark

Summary:

A uniformly dark brown to greyish-brown catshark, with darker brownish fins, mostly with whitish or translucent posterior margins, and narrow black anterior margins on the dorsal and pectoral fins.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2025, Apristurus macrostomus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 29 Jun 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/5756

Broadmouth Catshark, Apristurus macrostomus Zhu, Meng & Li 1985

More Info

Distribution	Gascoyne Marine Park (North of Point Cloates), depth 666-897 m. Elsewhere the species has a patchy distribution in the East-Indo-west Pacific: Myanmar, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, China, Taiwan and Japan.
Features	Snout moderately long (preoral length about 9–10% of TL); anal fin long and low; second dorsal fin larger than first; labial furrows long, upper furrows longer than lowers; no enlarged denticles on upper or lower caudal fin.
Biology	The species is oviparous. Males mature at ~38 cm TL and females mature at ~43 cm TL.
Fisheries	Taken as bycatch of deep-water trawl fisheries in parts of its range.
Species Citation	Apristurus macrostomus Zhu, Meng & Li, in Meng, Zhu & Meng 1985, Oceanologia et Limnologia Sinica 16(1): 45 (English p. 49), Fig. 2. Type locality: Off Zhujiang, South China Sea, depth 913 m.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2025
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Broadmouth Catshark, Apristurus macrostomus Zhu, Meng & Li 1985

References

Meng, Q.-W., Zhu, Y.-D. & Li, S. 1985. Description of four new species of Scyliorhinidae from depths of the South China Sea. Oceanologia et Limnologia Sinica 16(1): 43-50.

Nakaya, K. & Kawauchi, J. 2013. A review of the genus Apristurus (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae) from Taiwanese waters. Zootaxa 3752(1): 130–171.

Rigby, C.L., Bin Ali, A., Bineesh, K.K., Chen, X., Derrick, D., Dharmadi, Ebert, D.A., Fahmi, Fernando, D., Gautama, D.A., Ho, H., Hsu, H., Maung, A., Tanay, D., Utzurrum, J.A.T., Yuneni, R.R. & Zhang, J. 2020. Apristurus macrostomus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T44219A124431261. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T44219A124431261.en. Accessed on 05 February 2025.

White, W.T., Baje, L., Sabub, B., Appleyard, S.A., et al. 2018. Sharks and Rays of Papua New Guinea. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Monograph No. 189 (for 2017). i-vi, 1-327. See ref online

White, W.T., Mana, R.R. & Naylor, G.J.P. 2017. Description of a new species of deepwater catshark Apristurus yangi n.sp. (Carcharhiniformes: Pentanchidae) from Papua New Guinea. Zootaxa 4320(1): 130–171. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4320.1.2