knifetooth dogfish
Scymnodon ringens Barbosa du Bocage & de Brito Capello, 1864
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 Scymnodon ringens
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 knifetooth dogfish (Scymnodon ringens), is a harmless sleeper shark of the family Somniosidae, found in the eastern Atlantic, from Scotland to Spain, Portugal, and Senegal, and the southwest Pacific from New Zealand, between latitudes 58°N and 15°N, at depths of between 200 and 1,600 m. Its length is up to 1.1 metres (3.6 ft).
Wikipedia contributors, Knifetooth dogfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:27:42.330162+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Scymnodon ringens Barbosa du Bocage & de Brito Capello, 1864
- Name authority
- Barbosa du Bocage & de Brito Capello, 1864
- Common name
- knifetooth dogfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Squaliformes
- Family
- Somniosidae
- Genus
- Scymnodon
- 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
- familySomniosidae Jordan, 1888
- genusScymnodon Barbosa du Bocage & de Brito Capello, 1864
- speciesScymnodon ringens Barbosa du Bocage & de Brito Capello, 1864
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Scymnodon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Scymnodon ichiharai Yano & Tanaka, 1984 | SomniosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Scymnodon macracanthus (Regan, 1906) | SomniosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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.
- Barbosa du Bocage, J. V. and F. de Brito Capello. (1864). Sur quelques espèces inédites de Squalidae de la tribu Acanthiana, Gray, qui fréquentent les côtes du Portugal. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1864, 2. 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:4W5D4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.