Poroderma Smith

Brett A. Human, 2006, A taxonomic revision of the catshark genus Poroderma Smith, 1837 (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae)., Zootaxa 1229, pp. 1-32 : 2

publication ID

z01229p001

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6259281

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3E11AA59-1516-3429-52F5-F5F81C572CBF

treatment provided by

Thomas (2009-07-09 13:35:45, last updated 2024-11-27 09:26:53)

scientific name

Poroderma Smith
status

 

[[ Genus Poroderma Smith View in CoL View at ENA ]]

There is a minor directed fishery for Poroderma sharks for the aquarium trade; however, they are a significant bycatch in many fisheries including both recreational and commercial linefishing, and demersal trawling ( Bass et al. 1975; Buxton et al. 1984; Guastella 1993; Pradervand 1999; pers. obs.). These sharks also suffer from persecution from the commercial linefishery, as illustrated by Smith (1949: 53), who describes P. africanum as “…a pest to anglers”, particularly in the commercial linefishery, where the fisherman perceive these sharks to be ‘stealing’ their bait and make a point of killing the shark before discarding it. Bycatch mortality can be considered to be close to 100% in those fisheries where persecution exists (pers. obs.); therefore, fishery pressure for these species is grossly underestimated.

Although P. africanum is readily recognisable, colour pattern variation in P. pantherinum has caused taxonomic confusion in the past, and it appears that there may be ontogenetic and geographic factors that are partly responsible for that variation. In this study, the taxonomy of species of Poroderma is assessed, the first detailed description of the colour pattern variations in P. pantherinum , and a novel identification key for the genus, are provided. Taxonomic resolution of this genus will allow better fisheries management for these sharks.

Bass, A. J., D'Aubrey, J. D. & Kistnasamy, N. (1975) Sharks of the East Coast of Southern Africa. II. The Families Scyliorhinidae and Psuedotriakidae. Investigational Report of the Oceanographic Research Institute, 37, 1 - 64.

Buxton, C. D., Smale, M. J., Wallace, J. H. & Cockcroft, V. G. (1984) Inshore small-mesh trawling survey of the Cape south coast. Part 4. Contributions to the biology of some teleostei and chondrichthyes. South African Journal of Zoology, 19 (3), 180 - 188.

Guastella, L. (1993) Marine linefish catch statistics: Sharks. Data Report. South African Association for Marine Biological Research, 93.6, 1 - 5 + appendices.

Pradervand, P. (1999) National marine linefish system: Recorded catches of cartilaginous fishes in the KwaZulu-Natal recreational line fishery (1995 - 1998). Data Report. South African Association for Marine Biological Research, 99.2, 1 - 4 + appendices.

Smith, J. L. B. (1949) The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa. Central News Agency, Ltd, South Africa. 550 pp.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

ParvPhylum

Chondrichthyes

Class

Elasmobranchii

Order

Carcharhiniformes

Family

Scyliorhinidae