Haploblepharus edwardsii ( Schinz, 1822 )

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 48-49

Haploblepharus edwardsii ( Schinz, 1822)

Puffadder Shyshark

Squalus edwardsii Schinz, 1822: 214 (in van Oijen, 2001). Neotype: SAM 36079. Type locality: Millers Point , False Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa, 34°14'S, 18°28.6'E.

Local synonymy: Squalus edwardsii : Schinz, 1822: 214. Scyllium edwardsii : M̹ller & Henle, 1838c: 4, pl.; Gray, 1851: 28; Duméril, 1853: 79; Bleeker, 1860b: 57; G̹nther, 1870: 401; Gilchrist, 1902: 164; Lampe, 1914: 213. Scyllium edwardsii : Voigt, in Cuvier, 1832: 504 (in van Oijen, 2001). Catulus edwardii : Smith, 1837: 85. Scyliorhinus edwardsii : Regan, 1908b: 463. Scylliorhinus edwardsi : Thompson, 1914: 137; Barnard, 1925: 41. Scylliorhinus edwardsii : Gilchrist & Thompson, 1916: 283; Gilchrist, 1922a: 4. Haploblepharus edwardsii : Smith, 1950: 879, fig. 1; Smith, 1965: 512, fig. 39a; Bass et al., 1975a: 17, fig. 11a (in part, illustration is actually H. kistnasamyi ); Springer, 1979: 88; Compagno, 1984b: 332, fig.; Bass, 1986: 91, (fig. 11.8 caption as H. edwardsii is actually H. kistnassamyi ); Compagno, 1988a: 15; Compagno et al., 1989: 50, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 119; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004: 66; Compagno et al., 2005: 234, fig., pl. 40; Human & Compagno, 2006: 41; Human, 2007: 7, fig. 3; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 354, fig., pl. 48; NPOA, 2013: 46; da Silva et al., 2015: 248; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147; Weigmann, 2016: 876. (non) Haploblepharus edwardsii : Smith, 1950: 54, fig. 39 (= H. fuscus ).

South Africa voucher material: Human (2007) provides an extensive list of specimens in the SAM.

South African distribution: Endemic. This species is confirmed from Langebaan Lagoon (WC) to Algoa Bay (EC) ( Human, 2007), but is most common from False Bay to southeast of Cape Agulhas (WC). Records of this species from East London (EC) could be this species or more likely H. kistnasamyi ( Human, 2007) .

Remarks: This species was the most common Haploblepharus species between False Bay and Hermanus (WC) during the 1980s and early 1990s, but in recent years appears to have been replaced in this area by H. pictus due to cooling oceanographic conditions.

Conservation status: EN (2020).