Angelshark
(Squatina squatina )

Squatina squatina (Linnaeus, 1758)

Diagnosis


A greatly flattened, raylike shark with no ocelli (eye-spots) on body; trunk broad; eye smaller than spiracle. Nasal flap only slightly fringed, with simple barbels. Dorsal spines present in small numbers or largely absent, arranged along dorsal midline towards dorsal fins; some spines above eyes and above snout; almost entire ventral surfaces covered with denticles. Rear tips of pelvic fins extend to the level of the first dorsal fin origin.

Mean tooth count 20/20. Colour olive-brown or greenish-brown dorsally, with some darker speckles and blotches but not as obvious ocelli; paler ventrally.


Size

To about 240cm TL but commonly to 170cm; size at birth 20 to 30cm.


Status and Distribution

Mediterranean Sea Relatively common but probably declining. Entire Mediterranean coastal regions and islands,  and Black Sea.


Biology

Like the other angelshark species, S. squatina is typically a rather sedentary bottom-dweller on sand or mud substrates in coastal and insular waters at shallow or moderate depths between 5 and 100m. The angelshark will bury itself prostrate within the substrate with only eyes protruding, where it remains cryptic whilst awaiting unsuspecting prey to pass within range of its powerful and highly protrusable jaws. Nevertheless, this species is also an active, proficient swimmer and particularly mobile nocturnally, when it can be found swimming some distance off the seafloor. Angelsharks prey upon a wide variety of demersal bony fishes including flatfish and rays; also molluscs and crustaceans.

Ovoviviparous, with litters of 7 to 25 young although corresponding with the size of the female; gestation period 10 months and parturition from December to February in Mediterranean waters. Females mature at 126 to 167cm TL.