Pink Lanternshark

About the Pink Lanternshark

The Pink Lanternshark is a shark of the family Etmopteridae, found in Australia and New Caledonia.

Biology and Description:

The Pink Lanternshark has a soft, stout, subcylindrical body with a relatively short head. The eyes are narrow, without a pale naked patch in the upper eyelid, and the mouth is broad and subequal to the eye’s length. The first dorsal fin is located behind the rear tip of pectoral fins. The Caudal peduncle is short. The denticles are minute, bristle-like, and mostly randomly arranged. This species reaches a maximum size of 41 cm (16.1 in) TL. The reproduction mode is ovoviviparous, where females have their eggs hatch within their body. Young are born at 9-10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) TL.

Habitat:

The Pink Lanternshark is a bathypelagic species known only from the continental slope near the bottom of the central Queensland Plateau (Northeast Australia) and from off New Caledonia (Western Central Pacific) at depths of 108-880 m (354–2,887 ft).

Conservation:

There are currently no conservation measures in place for this species. Its entire Australian range falls into the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve. There are currently major fisheries operating in the range of the Pink Lanternshark. Population trends are not known but suspected to be stable based on refuge outside of fishing activities. There is nothing to infer or suspect population reduction at this time and the Pink Lanternshark is assessed as Least Concern.The Pink Lanternshark is unlikely to be captured frequently on longline gear used in the fishery due to its small size and deepwater distribution. If captured, it is likely discarded, but post-release mortality is unknown.

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