DiscoverSpeciesSharks and rays
Slender Sawtail Catshark
Galeus gracilis
- Usual depth250–453 m
- Water temperature24–28 °C
- Best monthsJanuary, March, and April
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) CSIRO National Fish Collection, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The slender sawtail catshark is a little-known species of deepwater catshark, part of the family Pentanchidae, endemic to northern Australia. It is found over the continental slope in 290–470 m (950–1,540 ft) on water. Growing to 34 cm (13 in) long, this shark has a slim gray body with four dark saddle markings below the dorsal fins and on the caudal fin, as well as a prominent crest of enlarged dermal denticles along the dorsal edge of the caudal fin. The slender sawtail catshark is not valued by fisheries but is taken as bycatch. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presently lacks enough information to assess its conservation status.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Slender sawtail catshark”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
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Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 3 records
- February: 0 records
- March: 2 records
- April: 2 records
- May: 1 records
- June: 0 records
- July: 0 records
- August: 1 records
- September: 0 records
- October: 2 records
- November: 0 records
- December: 0 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 250–453 m · Deepest record: 453 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 24–28 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Slender Sawtail Catshark, Slender Sawtail Shark
Names in 1 more languages
- German
- Schlanker Sägeschwanz-Katzenhai
Similar species
- Corrigan's Catshark
Galeus corriganae
- gecko catshark
Galeus eastmani
- Longnose Sawtail Catshark
Galeus longirostris
- broadfin sawtail catshark
Galeus nipponensis
- Phallic Catshark
Galeus priapus
- blacktip sawtail catshark
Galeus sauteri
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 33 open-data records from 1982 to 1994.
- Species data updated November 2, 2026.
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