Blacktailed spurdog

The blacktailed spurdog (Squalus melanurus) is a dogfish, a member of the family Squalidae, found around New Caledonia in the central Pacific Ocean, at depths from 320 to 320 m. Its length is up to 75 cm.

Blacktailed spurdog
from New Caledonia

Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Squalidae
Genus: Squalus
Species:
S. melanurus
Binomial name
Squalus melanurus
Fourmanoir & Rivaton, 1979
Range of the blacktailed spurdog (in blue)

Its reproduction is ovoviviparous.

Parasites

The blacktailed spurdog has been seldom studied for parasites. The 1 mm-long monogenean Triloculotrema chisholmae has been described in 2009 from three specimens found in the nasal tissue of a single shark caught off New Caledonia.[2] T. chisholmae was the second species described in the genus Triloculotrema Kearn, 1993 (family Monocotylidae).[3] Species of Triloculotrema appear to be limited to deep-sea sharks, either triakids or squalids (possibly etmopterids).[2]
The blacktailed spurdog is also the host of external parasites such as the aegiid isopod Aega angustata on the skin.[4] Internal parasites include several trypanorhynch cestodes in the spiral intestine, such as Vittirhynchus squali and Gilquinia sp.[5]

  • Squalus melanurus, head
  • Squalus melanurus, dorsal fin and spine
  • Squalus melanurus, ventral view of male

References
  1. Finucci, B. & Kyne, P.M. 2018. Squalus melanurus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T41860A116737441. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T41860A116737441.en. Downloaded on 28 December 2018.
  2. Justine, J.-L. 2009: A new species of Triloculotrema Kearn, 1993 (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from a deep-sea shark, the blacktailed spurdog Squalus melanurus (Squaliformes: Squalidae), off New Caledonia. Systematic Parasitology, 74, 59-63. doi:10.1007/s11230-009-9202-x
  3. Kearn, G. C. 1993: Triloculotrema japanicae n.g., n. sp. (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from the olfactory sacs of the Japanese topeshark Hemitriakis japanica (Müller & Henle, 1839) (Carcharhiniformes: Triakidae). Systematic Parasitology, 26, 53-57.
  4. Trilles, J.-P. & Justine, J.-L. 2004: Une nouvelle espèce de Cymothoidae et trois Aegidae (Crustacea, Isopoda) récoltés sur des poissons de mer profonde au large de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Zoosystema, 26, 211-233.
  5. Beveridge, I. & Justine, J.-L. 2006: Gilquiniid cestodes (Trypanorhyncha) from elasmobranch fishes off New Caledonia with descriptions of two new genera and a new species. Systematic Parasitology, 65, 235-249. doi:10.1007/s11230-006-9052-8
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