Brown lanternshark
Etmopterus unicolor (Engelhardt, 1912)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Distribution map for Etmopterus unicolor
Chris_huh · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The brown lanternshark or bristled lanternshark (Etmopterus unicolor) is a little-known species of deep-sea dogfish shark in the family Etmopteridae. It is found off Japan and New Zealand, and possibly also South Africa and Australia, typically deeper than 300 m (980 ft). This species can be distinguished from other lanternsharks by its coloration, which is a uniform dark gray or brown without the ventral surface being much darker and clearly delineated from the rest of the body. The brown lanternshark feeds on small bony fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans. Reproduction is ovoviviparous, with females giving birth to 9–18 young. An unusually high proportion of individuals in Suruga Bay are hermaphrodites, with both male and female characteristics.
Wikipedia contributors, Brown lanternshark; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:23:50.418420+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Etmopterus unicolor (Engelhardt, 1912)
- Name authority
- (Engelhardt, 1912)
- Common name
- Brown lanternshark
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Squaliformes
- Family
- Etmopteridae
- Genus
- Etmopterus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumChondrichthyes
- classElasmobranchii
- subclassNeoselachii
- infraclassSelachii
- superorderSqualomorphi
- orderSqualiformes Compagno, 1973
- familyEtmopteridae Fowler, 1934
- genusEtmopterus Rafinesque, 1810
- speciesEtmopterus unicolor (Engelhardt, 1912)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Etmopterus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Etmopterus alphus Ebert, Straube, Leslie & Weigmann, 2016 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| blurred lantern sharkEtmopterus bigelowi Shirai & Tachikawa, 1993 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etmopterus burgessi Schaaf-Da Silva & Ebert, 2006 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etmopterus caudistigmus Last, Burgess & Séret, 2002 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etmopterus evansi Last, Burgess & Séret, 2002 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| southern lanternsharkEtmopterus granulosus (Günther, 1880) | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etmopterus joungi Knuckey, Ebert & Burgess, 2011 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Laila’s lanternsharkEtmopterus lailae Ebert, Papastamatiou, Kajiura & Wetherbee, 2017 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Etmopterus pseudosqualiolus Last, Burgess & Séret, 2002 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etmopterus samadiae White, Ebert, Mana & Corrigan, 2017 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etmopterus schultzi Bigelow, Schroeder & Springer, 1953 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etmopterus sculptus Ebert, Compagno & De Vries, 2011 | EtmopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Spinax unicolor Engelhardt, 1912 Engelhardt, 1912 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=271645 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3BM8D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.