Roughskin catshark

About the Roughskin catshark

The Rough-skin Catshark is a species of catshark member of the family  Scyliorhinidae, found near Australia and New Zealand.

This catshark is the largest member of the genus found in Australia. Males reach a maximum size of 85.5 cm (33.7 in) TL and females reach 79.6 cm (31.3 in) TL. Sexual maturity is reached at 78 cm (30.7 in) for males and at 68 cm (26.8 in) for females. This shark is oviparous, meaning it lays eggs, but information on litter size is unknown. There is not enough information regarding this species’ biology and ecology.

The Rough-skin Catshark is a deepwater bathydemersal shark that occurs on the continental slope at depths of 840-1,500 m (2,756–4,921 ft). Found off southern New Zealand, and parts of southern Australia.

In Australia, waters around this species’ range are outside the activity of commercial trawl fisheries, so it is expected that bycatch levels would be low to negligible.

Its Australian occurrence is largely outside of the operating depth of fisheries, due to closures of most areas to trawling 700 m and the current closure of the South Tasman Rise Fishery that targeted Orange Roughy. If fishing for Orange Roughy is reopened in deepwater areas off southeast Australia, then bycatch levels of this and other deepwater sharks should be monitored. Off New Zealand, it is a minor bycatch of trawl fisheries, although as relatively little fishing occurs below 1,200 m depth, some of the population occurs beyond fishing depths. Despite being poorly-known, there is nothing to infer or suspect population reduction at this time and the Roughskin Catshark is assessed as Least Concern. This species is not known to be utilized. Areas below 700 m closed to trawling off southeast Australia would provide refuge for this species at depth (Patterson et al. 2022), as would some marine protected areas in the Australian Marine Park network.

Do you have images or videos of Roughskin catsharks?
Submit them to [email protected].