Endangered
Puffadder shyshark
Haploblepharus edwardsii
Puffadder shyshark is a shark or ray in the family Scyliorhinidae (order Carcharhiniformes) — Haploblepharus edwardsii, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The puffadder shyshark is more slender than other shysharks, with a short, broad, dorsally flattened head and a narrowly rounded snout. The five pairs of gill slits are positioned somewhat on the upper surface of the body. The dorsal, pelvic, and anal fins are all of similar size.
The short, broad caudal fin comprises about one-fifth of the body length and has a deep ventral notch near the tip of the upper lobe and a barely developed lower lobe. Typically reaching 60 cm (24 in) in length, the puffadder shyshark has a slender, flattened body and head.
Range and habitat
The range of the puffadder shyshark is limited to the continental shelf along the coast of South Africa, from Langebaan Lagoon in Western Cape Province to the western shore of Algoa Bay. Previous records of it being found as far north as Durban are now thought to be misidentifications of other species. It is found in progressively deeper water towards the northeastern portion of its range, from 0–15 m (0–49 ft) off Cape Town to 40–130 m (130–430 ft) off KwaZulu-Natal. This distribution pattern may reflect this shark's preference for cooler waters.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
A generalist predator with grasping dentition, the puffadder shyshark is known to take a variety of small benthic prey: crustaceans (among them crabs, shrimp, crayfish, mantis shrimp, and hermit crabs), annelid worms (among them polychaetes), bony fishes (among them anchovies, jack mackerels, and gobies), cephalopods (among them squid), and fish offal. Overall, the most important component of this shark's diet is crustaceans, followed by polychaetes and then fishes.
The shark is often injured or killed during these encounters. The seal may eat torn-off pieces of flesh, but seldom consumes the entire shark. This shark is oviparous and females deposit egg capsules singly or in pairs onto underwater structures.
In crisis
When threatened, the puffadder shyshark (and other members of its genus) curls into a circle with its tail covering its eyes, giving rise to the local names "shyshark" and "doughnut". It is a predator that feeds mainly on crustaceans, polychaete worms, and small bony fishes. It has been assessed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as its entire population is located within a limited area and could be affected by a local increase in fishing pressure or habitat degradation.
Puffadder shyshark 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 Puffadder shyshark, Wikidata item Q612558. 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.
