Hawailian Lanternshark

About the Hawailian Lanternshark

The Hawaiian lanternshark is a species of lantern shark found exclusively around the Hawaiian Islands at depths of 280 to 1610 m. Like all members of the lantern shark family they’re small, with a maximum length of 45 cm, they live in deepwater, and have light-producing photophores on their body. These photophores are just bright enough to mask their silhouette and make them look invisible from below, and allows them to sneak up on prey.

They’re ovoviviparous. The embryos develop in eggs inside of the mother until they’re ready to hatch, but very little else is known about their reproductive cycle.

They’re caught by bottom trawlers that target deep sea snappers. But these bottom trawlers rarely go deeper than 300 m and the Hawaiian lanternshark range extends much deeper than this, so they’re somewhat protected from fishing pressures. Because of this their conservation status is currently Least Concern, but more studies are required to understand their population dynamics.

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