Scyliorhinus haeckelii, : Springer, 1979

Soares, Karla D. A. & De, Marcelo R., 2019, The catshark genus Scyliorhinus (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae): taxonomy, morphology and distribution, Zootaxa 4601 (1), pp. 1-147 : 68-69

Scyliorhinus haeckelii ( Miranda Ribeiro, 1907)

( Figs. 10B , 11 )

Common names: freckled catshark, polkadot catshark ( United States), cação-pinto ( Brazil).

Catulus haeckelii Miranda Ribeiro, 1907: 163 –165, fig. 8 (original description, type locality: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Catulus boa: Garman, 1913: 17 (only the part referring to the holotype of S. haeckelii ).

Scyliorhinus boa: Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948: 204 –207, fig. 32 (only the part referring to the illustration of the holotype of S. haeckelii and remarks about it); Springer, 1966: 602 (only the part referring to the holotype of S. haeckelii ).

Scyliorhinus retifer besnardi Springer & Sadowsky, 1970: 94 –97, fig. 2 (original description, type locality: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil); Cadenat & Blache, 1981: 183 –184, fig. 123c (catalogue, western coast of Africa); Menni, Ringuelet & Aramburu, 1984: 97 –98 (catalogue, Argentina and Uruguay) [synonymy follows Soares et al., 2016: 513 –523].

Scyliorhinus retifer haeckelii Springer & Sadowsky, 1970: 92 –93 (taxonomic review, Western Central Atlantic).

Scyliorhinus retifer: Regan, 1908: 457 (only the part referring to the holotype of S. haeckelii ); Figueiredo, 1977: 13, fig. 16 (catalogue, Brazil).

Scyliorhinus besnardi: Springer, 1979: 126 –128, figs. 79, 80 (taxonomic review); Compagno, 1984: 357 (FAO catalogue); Compagno et al., 2005: 246, pl. 42 (compilation); Ebert et al., 2013a: 374, 377, pl. 52 (compilation).

Scyliorhinus haeckelii: Springer, 1979 , pp. 135–137, fig. 86 (taxonomic review); Compagno, 1984: 362 –363 (FAO catalogue); Gomes & Tomás, 1991: 193 –200 (sexual dimorphism); Gomes & de Carvalho, 1995: 232 –236, fig. 2 (egg capsules); Compagno, 1999: 480 (listed); Soto, 2001: 68 –69 (catalogue, Brazil); Gadig & Gomes, 2003: 22 (catalogue, Brazil); Bernardes et al., 2005: 59 (catalogue); Compagno et al., 2005: 250, pl. 42 (compilation); Ebert et al., 2013a: 374, 381, pl. 52 (compilation); Soares et al., 2016: 513 –523, figs. 9–23, 25, 26 (taxonomic review, Western Central Atlantic); Weigmann, 2016: 43 (listed); Rincón et al., 2017: 94 –95 (catalogue, Brazil).

Scyliorhinus haeckelii / besnardi group Gomes et al., 2010: 84 –85, fig. 109 (catalogue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Soares et al., 2015: 1 (compared to S. ugoi , new species described).

Holotype. MNRJ 494 , male, 316 mm TL ( Ilha Rasa , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Additional material examined. 127 specimens (see Appendix).

Diagnosis. Scyliorhinus haeckelii differs from all congeners by presenting a color pattern composed of dark spots predominantly greater than the spiracles (vs. dark spots absent in S. capensis , S. comoroensis , S. hesperius , S. meadi , S. torazame , and S. torrei ; reticulate pattern in S. retifer ; spots predominantly smaller in S. boa and S. cabofriensis ); anterior nasal flaps not reaching the upper lip (vs. flaps reaching the upper lip in S. canicula , S. cervigoni , S. comoroensis , S. duhamelii , S. garmani , and S. stellaris ); interdorsal distance greater than the anal base (vs. smaller or equal to anal base in S. canicula , S. capensis , S. cervigoni , S. comoroensis , S. duhamelii , S. garmani , S. stellaris , and S. torazame ); dorsal terminal 2 cartilage reduced and subtriangular (vs. elongated in S. boa , S. canicula , S. comoroensis , S. duhamelii , S. retifer , S. stellaris , S. torazame , and S. torrei ); groove on the distal portion of the ventral terminal cartilage rudimentary or absent (vs. groove well developed in S. cabofriensis ). The following combination of characters, although less conspicuous, also helps to distinguish this species: dark spots restricted to saddles and not bordering them (vs. spots scattered throughout the body in S. cabofriensis and S. duhamelii ; bordering saddles in S. boa ); spots double, lunate and with clear centers present on dorsolateral surfaces below the lateral line (vs. absent in S. boa , S. cervigoni , S. garmani , and S. ugoi ); saddles without antero- and posteromedial projections (vs. projections present in S. ugoi ); mesonarial ridge not exceeding the posterior border of the anterior flaps (vs. exceeding in S. stellaris ); pelvic apron extending to 2/3 of length of pelvic inner margins (vs. extending for almost the entire length in S. canicula , S. capensis , S. duhamelii , S. torazame , and S. torrei ); clasper with cover rhipidion covered by dermal denticles (vs. denticles absent in S. boa , S. cervigoni and S. retifer ); clasper terminal dermal cover smooth (vs. rough in S. canicula and S. capensis ); terminal 3 cartilage absent (vs. present in S. boa , S. canicula , S. capensis , S. retifer and, S. torazame ); counts of monospondylous vertebrae 36–40 (vs. 44–46 in S. capensis ; 40–45 in S. cervigoni ; 48 in S. garmani ; 46–48 in S. meadi ; 43–47 in S. stellaris ; 30–35 in S. torrei ); adult males at least from 350 mm TL and adult females from 390 mm TL (vs. adult males greater than 450 mm TL in S. capensis , S. cervigoni , S. meadi , and S. stellaris ; 269 mm TL and 294 mm TL, respectively, in S. torrei ).

Remarks. Soares et al. (2016) described the clasper of S. haeckelii with an accessory dorsal marginal cartilage (RD2), which would support the rhipidion (p. 519–520, figs. 14, 16). In this study, this structure is reidentified as a terminal dorsal 2 cartilage ( Fig. 8b ), following Jungersen (1899) and Compagno (1988a). Additionally, specimen UERJ 2230.2, previously identified as S. cabofriensis , is reidentified as S. haeckelii by presenting a color pattern more similar to the latter.

Springer (1979) included specimen USNM 188061, captured just north of the mouth of the Amazonas River, in his list of examined material of S. haeckelii . This specimen is a 143 mm TL juvenile male that presents a color pattern composed of saddles slightly darker than the background, dark spots more frequent in the border of saddles and light spots present from the pectoral saddles (same color pattern presented by the specimen illustrated in Oliveira et al., 2015: 31). Despite the difficulty in identifying juvenile specimens, due to ontogenetic variation in color pattern, clasper morphology and morphometrics, the presence of dark spots bordering the saddles is understood here as a diagnostic character for S. boa . This specimen is therefore reidentified here as S. boa . With the reidentification of specimens captured from Colombia to northern Brazil, the geographic distribution of S. haeckelii is restricted here to southwestern Atlantic, from southern Bahia, Brazil, to northern Argentina ( Fig. 11 ). Conservation status ‘Data Deficient’ ( Rincon 2004).

Figures

FIGURE 8. Clasper of Scyliorhinus boa; dorsal view, USNM 221563, 348 mm TL (Colombia, 12°17’N, 72°40’W). A, external morphology; B, skeleton. crh, cover rhipidion; en, envelope; end, endstyle; erh, exorhipidion; hp, hipopyle; rd, dorsal marginal cartilage; rh, rhipidion; rv, ventral marginal cartilage; t3, terminal 3 cartilage; td, dorsal terminal cartilage; td2, dorsal terminal 2 cartilage; tdc, terminal dermal cover; tv, ventral terminal cartilage; tv2, ventral terminal 2 cartilage. Scale bar = 10 mm.

FIGURE 10. Clasper skeleton of Scyliorhinus species distributed along the southwestern Atlantic; dorsal view of skeleton. A, Scyliorhinus cabofriensis, UERJ 1702, 468 mm TL; B, S. haeckelii, UERJ 2233.6, 449 mm TL; C, S. ugoi, UERJ 1725, 530 mm TL. end, endstyle; rd, dorsal marginal cartilage; rh, rhipidion; rv, ventral marginal cartilage; td, dorsal terminal cartilage; td2, dorsal terminal 2 cartilage; tv, ventral terminal cartilage; tv2, ventral terminal 2 cartilage. Modified from Soares et al. (2015, 2016). Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIGURE 11. Map showing the geographic distribution of Scyliorhinus cabofriensis (yellow circles), S. haeckelii (green circles) and S. ugoi (blue circles) based on material examined in this study. Stars indicate the type localities of species.