Bythaelurus

Bythaelurus Temporal range: Early Oligocene to present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Dusky catshark (Bythaelurus canescens)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Division:	Selachii
Order:	Carcharhiniformes
Family:	Pentanchidae
Genus:	Bythaelurus L. J. V. Compagno, 1988
Type species
Scyllium canescens Günther, 1878

Bythaelurus is a genus of sharks belonging to the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. The genus Bythaelurus Compagno 1988 was first described as a subgenus of Halaelurus Gill 1862 based on several morphological characteristics including a soft body with thin skin, a bluntly rounded snout without a pointed, knob-like tip, and eyes not noticeably elevated on the dorsal surface of the head. Members of this genus are generally found in deep water and have more somber body coloration. ^[1]

Species

There are currently 14 recognized species in this genus: ^[2]

• Bythaelurus alcockii (Garman, 1913) (Arabian catshark) ^[1]
• Bythaelurus bachi Weigmann et al., 2016 (Bach's catshark) ^[3]
• Bythaelurus canescens (Günther, 1878) (dusky catshark)
• Bythaelurus clevai (Séret, 1987) (broadhead catshark)
• Bythaelurus dawsoni (S. Springer, 1971) (New Zealand catshark)
• Bythaelurus giddingsi J. E. McCosker, Long & C. C. Baldwin, 2012 (Galápagos catshark)
• Bythaelurus hispidus (Alcock, 1891) (bristly catshark)
• Bythaelurus immaculatus (Y. T. Chu & Q. W. Meng, 1982) (spotless catshark)
• Bythaelurus incanus Last & J. D. Stevens, 2008 (sombre catshark)
• Bythaelurus lutarius (S. Springer & D'Aubrey, 1972) (mud catshark)
• Bythaelurus naylori Ebert & Clerkin, 2015 (dusky snout catshark) ^[1]
• Bythaelurus stewarti Weigmann, Kaschner, and Thiel, 2018 (Error Seamount catshark) ^[4]
• Bythaelurus tenuicephalus Kaschner, Weigmann & Thiel, 2015 (narrowhead catshark) ^[5]
• Bythaelurus vivaldii Weigmann & Kaschner, 2017 (Vivaldi's catshark) ^[6]

A single fossil species, † Bythelurus steurbauti Hovestadt & Hovestadt-Euler, 1995 is known from the Early Oligocene of Belgium. ^[7]

References

1. Ebert, D.A. & Clerkin, P.J. (2015). "A new species of deep-sea catshark (Scyliorhinidae: Bythaelurus) from the southwestern Indian Ocean" (PDF). Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation. 15: 53–63.
2. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2021). "Species in genus Bythaelurus". FishBase .
3. Weigmann, Simon; Ebert, David A.; Clerkin, Paul J.; Stehmann, Matthias F.W.; Naylor, Gavin J.P. (2016). "Bythaelurus bachi n. sp., a new deep-water catshark (Carcharhiniformes, Scyliorhinidae) from the southwestern Indian Ocean, with a review of Bythaelurus species and a key to their identification". Zootaxa. 4208 (5): 401–432. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4208.5.1. PMID   28006803 . Retrieved 5 May 2021.
4. Thiel, Ralf; Kaschner, Carina Julia; Weigmann, Simon (2018-12-12). "A new microendemic species of the deep-water catshark genus Bythaelurus (Carcharhiniformes, Pentanchidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean, with investigations of its feeding ecology, generic review and identification key". PLOS ONE. 13 (12) e0207887. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1307887W. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207887 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   6291195 . PMID   30540765.
5. Kaschner C.J.; Weigmann S.; Thiel R. (2015). "Bythaelurus tenuicephalus n. sp., a new deep-water catshark (Carcharhiniformes, Scyliorhinidae) from the western Indian Ocean". Zootaxa. 4013 (1): 120–138. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4013.1.9. PMID   26623887.
6. Weigmann, Simon; Kaschner, Carina Julia (2017). "Bythaelurus vivaldii, a new deep-water catshark (Carcharhiniformes, Scyliorhinidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean off Somalia". Zootaxa. 4263 (1): 097–119. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4263.1.4. PMID   28609882.
7. "Bythaelurus steurbauti | Shark-References". shark-references.com. Retrieved 2025-09-27.