Centrophorus Müller & Henle, 1837a

Ebert, David A., White, William T., Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Last, Peter R., Nakaya, Kazuhiro, Séret, Bernard, Straube, Nicolas, Naylor, Gavin J. P. & De Carvalho, Marcelo R., 2013, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Taiwan, Zootaxa 3752 (1), pp. 279-386 : 287-289

Genus Centrophorus Müller & Henle, 1837a

Gulper Sharks / äḛé

Centrophorus Müller & Henle, 1837a: 115 . Type species: Squalus granulosus Bloch & Schneider, 1801 , by monotypy.

Centrophorus atromarginatus Garman, 1913

Dwarf Gulper Shark / Ḅõäḛ

Centrophorus atromarginatus Garman, 1913: 200 , pl. 13, figs 1–4. Holotype: MCZ 1117-S, female, 870 mm, Suruga Gulf, Japan; type was erroneously re-catalogued as MCZ 1455-S ( Hartel & Dingerkus, 1997).

Local synonymy: Centrophorus armatus: Chen, 1963: 91 ; Chen & Cheng, 1982: 145; Chen & Yu, 1986: 112. Centrophorus armatus barbatus: Teng, 1962: 151 , fig. 38. Centrophorus atromarginatus: Yang, 1979: 206 ; Chen & Yu, 1986: 112; White et al., 2013: this volume.

Taiwan voucher material: (1 specimen) CAS 234956 , adult male 583 mm TL, Da-xi , 5 May 1988. Centrophorus armatus barbatus , holotype, TFRI 34 , adult male 591 mm TL, Da-xi (examined by DAE).

Remarks: The holotype of C. armatus barbatus has been examined by one of us ( DAE) and compared to the holotype of C. atromarginatus , and found to be conspecific with each other. One of us ( DAE) found this species to be relatively common at the Da-xi and Su-ao s during a survey in April-May 1988, but more recent visits to these fish markets over the past decade have yielded relatively few records for this species in Taiwan. Teng (1962) proposed a new subspecies for a gulper shark found off Taiwan, C. armatus barbatus , which is a junior synonym of C. atromarginatus .

Conservation status: Data Deficient.

Centrophorus granulosus ( Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Gulper Shark / ķÚäḛ

Squalus granulosus Bloch & Schneider, 1801: 135 . Holotype: ZMB, whereabouts unknown; no locality. Neotype: AMNH 78263 , female 1241 mm, Puerto Santa Cruz de Tenerife , Canary Islands, Spain; neotype designation by White et al. (2013).

Local synonymy: Centrophorus acus: Chen & Cheng, 1982: 143 , fig. 2; Yu, 1988: 3; Chen & Joung, 1993: 36, pl. 1 (fig. 8); Hsu & Joung, 2004: 184; Shen & Wu, 2011: 82, fig. (Taiwan). Centrophorus granulosus: White et al., 2013 : this volume, figs 1–9, 15a. Centrophorus harrissoni: Chen, 1963: 93 . Centrophorus niaukang: Teng, 1959e: 1 , pl. 1, figs 1 & 2; Teng, 1962: 159, fig. 40; Yang, 1979: 205, fig. 1; Chen & Cheng, 1982: 143, fig. 5; Chen & Yu, 1986: 112; Chen & Joung, 1993: 37, pl. 2, fig. 1; Nakabo, 2002: 153, fig.; Hsu & Joung, 2004: 185; Ho & Shao, 2011: 9; Shen & Wu, 2011: 83, fig.

Taiwan voucher material: (36 spec.) CAS 234955 , newborn or aborted embryo male 308 mm TL, Da-xi , 26 May 2005; CSIRO H 6292–13 , newborn female 392 mm TL, Da-xi, 21 May 2005; FRIP 3674 , adult male 1167 mm TL, northeastern Taiwan; FRIP 3660 ; NMMB-P 15807 , juvenile female 952 mm TL, NMMB-P 15808 , juvenile female 874 mm TL, NMMB-P 15809 , female 1194 mm TL. Additional specimens listed in White et al. (2013) .

Remarks: Commonly landed by deepwater trawling and longlining off eastern and southern Taiwan. Taxonomic examination of material from around the world has revealed that Centrophorus niaukang and C. acus are junior synonyms of C. granulosus , a larger species (> 1.5 m TL) occurring in the Atlantic and Indo-West Pacific Oceans (White et al., 2013, this volume). Centrophorus robustus Deng, Xiong & Zhan 1985 , described from the East China Sea, is probably a junior synonym of this species. One of us ( DAE) during a survey in April-May 1988 found this species to be relatively uncommon at fish markets on the east coast compared to C. atromarginatus , a more common Centrophorus species at the time. More recent surveys reveal C. atromarginatus to be uncommon now relative to C. granulosus .

Conservation status: Vulnerable, but not relevant to current nomenclature. Centrophorus niaukang and C. acus listed as Near Threatened.

Centrophorus isodon ( Chu, Meng & Liu, 1981)

Blackfin Gulper Shark / ğǿäḛ

Pseudocentrophorus isodon Chu, Meng & Liu, 1981: 100 , fig. Holotype: SCSFI 719 , male 630 mm, Xisha (Paracel) Islands , South China Sea.

Local synonymy: Centrophorus armatus: Chen & Cheng, 1982: 143 , fig. 3 (NMF 9).? Centrophorus uyato: Hsu & Joung, 2004: 185 (based on detail of long narrow snout).

Taiwan voucher material: (1 specimen) FRIP 03661 , no data .

Remarks: Drawing of C. armatus in Chen & Cheng (1982) appears to be this species based on the short first dorsal fin, greatly produced pectoral fin free rear tips and long snout in ventral view; specimen location not known. Only known from morphometric measurements and a photograph of a specimen from Taiwan in April-May 1988 (Ebert, unpubl.). The nomenclature and status of this taxon needs to be critically re-evaluated. The relationship of this species to Centrophorus tesselatus Garman, 1906 from Japan also needs further work.

Conservation status: Data Deficient.