Scyliorhinidae

For additional species called "dogfish", see Dogfish (disambiguation).

Scyliorhinidae
Temporal range: Upper Jurassic – Present[1]
Whitesaddled catshark, Scyliorhinus hesperius
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Suborder: Scyliorhinoidei
Family: Scyliorhinidae
T. N. Gill, 1862

Scyliorhinidae is a family of sharks, one of a few families whose members share the common name catsharks, belonging to the order Carcharhiniformes, the ground sharks. Although they are generally known as catsharks, some species can also be called dogfish due to previous naming.[2] However, a dogfish may generally be distinguished from a catshark as catsharks lay eggs while dogfish have live young.[2] Like most bottom feeders, catsharks feed on benthic invertebrates and smaller fish. They are not harmful to humans.[2] The family is paraphyletic, containing several distinct lineages that do not form a monophyletic group.[3]

  1. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Scyliorhinidae". FishBase. January 2009 version.
  2. ^ a b c Torrance, Jeremy. "What's in a name?". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  3. ^ A. Soares, Karla D. (June 2020). "Comparative anatomy of the clasper of catsharks and its phylogenetic implications (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae)". Journal of Morphology. 281 (6): 591–607. doi:10.1002/jmor.21123. ISSN 0362-2525. PMID 32271501.