Endangered
Dumb gulper shark
Centrophorus harrissoni
The dumb gulper shark is a rare and endangered deepwater dogfish, found along the east coast of Australia and in isolated spots north and west of New Zealand.
Appearance
The dumb gulper shark may grow to be 43 in (110 cm) long and has a long, robust head, a long, flattened snout, a large mouth, and large, green eyes, that help it see at 820 to 1260 ft (250 to 385 m) under water. The body is slender and of moderate size, and is grey to greyish-brown in colour, with a paler underside. Of the two dorsal fins, the first is larger than the second, and each has a short spine, a white rear margin, and a dark blotch towards the front, that is more distinct in juveniles.
Range and habitat
This shark is found off the coasts of eastern Australia and New Zealand. Its habitat is in the demersal zone on the upper to middle continental slope. The dumb gulper shark is a rare and endangered deepwater dogfish, found along the east coast of Australia and in isolated spots north and west of New Zealand.
Action is being taken to preserve the dumb gulper, that includes being incorporated into the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act to create a plan to keep this species safe.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Sharks and rays grow slowly and have few young. A fishery that treats them as bycatch can empty a coastal form.
In crisis
The population size is unknown, but numbers have decreased as much as 99% in some areas since the 1970s. In response to this species' inherent low productivity and continuing reduced numbers, managers have introduced landing restrictions and area closures to enhance C. Harrissoni stocks in southern Australian waters. The New Zealand Department of Conservation has classified the dumb gulper shark as "Data Deficient" with the qualifier "Threatened Overseas" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.
Dumb gulper shark is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Dumb gulper shark, Wikidata item Q994856. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
