Common Name
Cookiecutter Shark
Year Described
Quoy and Gaimard, 1824
Identification
Teeth: 30-37 upper, 25-32 lower. Upper teeth minute and slender. Lower teeth relatively huge and triangular.
Body elongate, cylindrical and tapering posteriorly. Head small. Snout short and blunt. Nostrils under snout. Mouth with upper labial furrows, long post-oral grooves, and thick fringed lips. Jaws moderate, not as wide as head, and with lower jaw not prominent. Eyes large. Five gill slits short. Two dorsal fins close together (space less than base of either fin) and lacking spines. First dorsal fin placed far back (above pelvic fin). Second dorsal fin about same size as first. Pectoral fin very small and rounded. Pelvic fin well posterior (under rear of first dorsal fin) and smaller than either dorsal fin. Anal fin absent. Caudal fin with a well developed subterminal notch and a strong lower lobe. Skin rough and close set. Denticles square with square depressions in center.
Color
Body medium brown grading to pale below. Prominent dark brown collar on neck. Area around mouth paler brown. Fins slightly darker brown with pale margins. Eyes green. Apparently bioluminescent.
Size
Maximum size to 56cm TL (females). Adults common to 40cm TL with males being smaller in size.
Habitat
Pelagic from 0-550m over much deeper water. Appears to be solitary and vertically migrating. Takes large bites of flesh from much larger marine animals.
Range
Taken off the Bahamas, in the Gulf of Mexico and off Brazil. Apparently absent from the eastern coast of the U.S.
References
Castro, J.I. 2011. The Sharks of North America. Oxford University Press, 640 pp.