Animalia > Chordata > Elasmobranchii > Squatiniformes > Squatinidae > Squatina > Squatina californica

Squatina californica (Pacific angelshark; Pacific angel shark; Angel shark)

Synonyms: Rhina philippi (heterotypic)
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Wikipedia Abstract

The Pacific angelshark (Squatina californica) is a species of angel shark, family Squatinidae, found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Alaska to the Gulf of California, and from Ecuador to Chile, although those in the Gulf of California and southeastern Pacific may in fact be separate species. The Pacific angelshark inhabits shallow, coastal waters on sandy flats, usually near rocky reefs, kelp forests, or other underwater features. This species resembles other angel sharks in appearance, with a flattened body and greatly enlarged pectoral and pelvic fins. Characteristic features of this shark include a pair of cone-shaped barbels on its snout, angular pectoral fins, and a brown or gray dorsal coloration with many small dark markings. It attains a maximum length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).
View Wikipedia Record: Squatina californica

Attributes

Litter Size [2]  6
Maximum Longevity [2]  35 years
Nocturnal [1]  Yes
Water Biome [1]  Benthic, Coastal
Diet [1]  Carnivore
Female Maturity [2]  10 years

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Alto Golfo de California y Delta del Rio Colorado Biosphere Reserve VI 2320468 Sonora, Mexico  
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary   California, United States
Channel Islands National Park II 139010 California, United States

Prey / Diet

Chromis punctipinnis (Blacksmith chromis)[3]
Diplectrum pacificum (Inshore sand perch)[4]
Etrumeus acuminatus (Atlantic red herring)[4]
Paralichthys californicus (Halibut)[3]
Rhinogobiops nicholsii (Blackeye goby)[3]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Branchellion lobata[5]
Grillotia smarisgora[6]
Otodistomum veliporum[6]
Paraberrapex manifestus[6]
Trebius latifurcatus[5]

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
2de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
3Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
4Trophic Level and Isotopic Composition of δ13C and δ15N of Pacific Angel Shark, Squatina californica (Ayers, 1859), in the Southern Gulf of California, Mexico, O. Escobar-Sánchez, F. Galván-Magaña and L.A. Abitia-Cárdenas, Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 6 (2): 141-150, 2011
5Pollerspöck, J. & Straube, N. (2015), Bibliography database of living/fossil sharks, rays and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii, Holocephali) -Host-Parasites List/Parasite-Hosts List-, World Wide Web electronic publication, Version 04/2015;
6Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0