African Lanternshark

About the African Lanternshark

The African lantern shark is a small shark, usually about 30 cm long, found in the western coast of Africa. It lives in deep water, near the bottom, at depths of 300 to 1000 m.

Very little is known about their biology but they seem to ovoviviparous. Like other lantern sharks, they have light-producing photophores on their body, presumably to help them see in the darkness of the deep sea and to attract prey.

There aren’t enough studies to determine its population health status and the IUCN lists them as Data Deficient. However there are concerns that they get caught as bycatch in shrimp fisheries and could become near-threatened in the near future.

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