Centrophorus uyato ( Rafinesque, 1815 )

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 : 25

Centrophorus uyato ( Rafinesque, 1815)

Little Gulper Shark

Squalus uyato Rafinesque, 1815: 13 , fig. 2, pl. 14. Type:no known types. Type locality: off Sicily, Italy, Mediterranean Sea .

Local synonymy: Centrophorus uyato : Bass et al., 1976: 31, fig. 22; Compagno et al., 1989: 24, pl.; Weigmann, 2016: 891. Centrophorus cf. uyato : Ebert, 2015: 63, fig. 66; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 144.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 25920, SAIAB 25922. Specimens in South African museum collections identified as C. granulosus and other unidentified species should be re-examined to confirm their identification as C. uyato .

South Africa distribution: Off the west coast from the Orange River (NC) and most likely off the EC and KZN.

Remarks: In South African waters, both C. granulosus and C. uyato occur, but historically have been misidentified. Compagno et al. (1991) listed C. uyato in synonymy with C. granulosus , but there were in fact two species involved: a large species now known to be C. granulosus and a small species now referred to as C. uyato . In addition, a third species, C. lesliei , recently described from West Africa and the Mozambique Channel, is likely to eventually be found in South African waters. The species name C. uyato has been problematic since it appears to have been based on a species of Squalus from the Mediterranean Sea. However, only one species of Centrophorus occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and it has incorrectly been referred to as C. granulosus . A review of the genus is presently ongoing to clarify the status of this small species of Centrophorus (D.A. Ebert, W.T. White, unpubl. data).

Conservation status: EN (2020).