Southern African Frilled Shark

Shark Database | Cow and Frilled Sharks - Hexanchiformes | Southern African Frilled Shark

About the Southern African Frilled Shark

The Southern African frilled shark is a rare deep sea shark with a long snake-like body and a broad, flattened head. They are dark grey in colour, but are covered with a thin membrane of mucus that makes them seem brown. They occur between 300 and 1400 m (984–4,593 ft) deep underwater in the Southeastern Atlantic Ocean and Western Indian Ocean, from Angola to South Africa.

Biology and Behaviour

Southern African frilled sharks are very similar to frilled sharks, but are smaller and have different body proportions. They have a blunt snout and sizeable mouth with 30 rows of needle-like teeth in the upper jaw and 27 rows of teeth in the lower jaw. They have six pairs of long gill slits, with the first gill over its throat and the sixth just behind the pectoral fins.

Southern African frilled sharks feed mainly on smaller sharks such as the African saw-tail catshark, and squid. Its jaws and abdomen can expand large enough that they can capture and swallow whole prey measuring up to half its body length. One 92 cm (36 in) specimen was even found with a ghost catshark measuring 40% of its body length swallowed whole.

Reproduction and Lifespan

Southern African frilled sharks are ovoviviparous. Eggs hatch inside the female before being released. Males mature to a maximum length of 99 cm (39 in) while females grow a bit longer to 117 cm (46 in). Litters contain at least three pups, which measure approximately 50 cm (19.7 in) at birth.

Conservation and Tourism

The IUCN assessed the Southern African frilled shark as Least Concern in 2018. The species is not commercially targeted or traded, but it may occasionally be captured as bycatch in deepwater demersal trawl and longline fisheries in Namibia.

The population trend is thought to be stable, but there are currently no population estimates. There are no species-specific conservation measures in place. Continued monitoring of bycatch in deepwater fisheries is required.

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