bigeye thresher
Alopias superciliosus Lowe, 1841
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.
Bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus)
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Open encyclopedia reference
The bigeye thresher (Alopias superciliosus) is a species of thresher shark, family Alopiidae, found in temperate and tropical oceans worldwide. Like the other thresher sharks, nearly half its total length consists of the elongated upper lobe of the tail fin. Its common name comes from its enormous eyes, which are placed in keyhole-shaped sockets that allow them to be rotated upward. This species can also be distinguished by a pair of deep grooves on the top of its head, from which its scientific name is derived. The large eyes of the bigeye thresher are adapted for hunting in low light conditions. It is one of the few sharks that conduct a diel vertical migration, staying in deep water during the day and moving into surface waters at night to feed. To protect its sensitive brain and eyes from the temperature changes accompanying these movements, the bigeye thresher has a vascular exchange system called the rete mirabile around those organs. This species feeds mainly on fish and squid, which are stunned via whip-like strikes of the long tail.
Wikipedia contributors, Bigeye thresher; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:55:40.640908+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Alopias superciliosus Lowe, 1841
- Name authority
- Lowe, 1841
- Common name
- bigeye thresher
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Lamniformes
- Family
- Alopiidae
- Genus
- Alopias
- 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
- superorderGaleomorphi
- orderLamniformes Garman, 1885
- familyAlopiidae Bonaparte, 1835
- genusAlopias Rafinesque, 1810
- speciesAlopias superciliosus Lowe, 1841
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Alopecias superciliosus Lowe, 1841 Lowe, 1841 | synonym |
| Alopias profundus Nakamura, 1935 Nakamura, 1935 | synonym |
| Alopias superciliousus Lowe, 1841 Lowe, 1841 | 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.
- Lowe, R. T. (1841). Certain new species of Madeiran fishes ... Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1840, (pt. 8, no. 89): 36–39. 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:65WK9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.