white ghost catshark
Apristurus aphyodes Nakaya & Stehmann, 1998
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The white ghost catshark (Apristurus aphyodes) is a shark of the catshark family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. This shark is found in deep water in the northeast Atlantic between latitudes 57°N and 58°N.
A deep-water catshark known from the eastern North Atlantic from depths of 1,014 to 1,800 m, it is known from only a limited number of specimens. It reaches a maximum of 54 cm or 1.7 ft total length which is a medium size for the Apristurus genus.
Wikipedia contributors, White ghost catshark; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:04:42.475320+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Apristurus aphyodes Nakaya & Stehmann, 1998
- Name authority
- Nakaya & Stehmann, 1998
- Common name
- white ghost catshark
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Carcharhiniformes
- Family
- Pentanchidae
- Genus
- Apristurus
- 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
- orderCarcharhiniformes
- familyPentanchidae Smith, 1912
- genusApristurus Garman, 1913
- speciesApristurus aphyodes Nakaya & Stehmann, 1998
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Apristurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Brown catsharkApristurus brunneus (Gilbert, 1892) | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus albisoma Nakaya & Séret, 1999 | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus ampliceps Sasahara, Sato & Nakaya, 2008 | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus australis Sato, Nakaya & Yorozu, 2008 | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus breviventralis Kawauchi, Weigmann & Nakaya, 2014 | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus bucephalus White, Last & Pogonoski, 2008 | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus herklotsi (Fowler, 1934) | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| smallbelly catsharkApristurus indicus (Brauer, 1906) | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus investigatoris (Misra, 1962) | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Apristurus japonicus Nakaya, 1975 | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Iceland catsharkApristurus laurussonii (Saemundsson, 1922) | PentanchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| smalleye catsharkApristurus microps (Gilchrist, 1922) | PentanchidaeChordata | 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.
- Nakaya, K.; W. Stehmann, M. F. (1998). A new species of deep-water catshark, Apristurus aphyodes n. sp., from the eastern North Atlantic (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae). Archive of Fishery and Marine Research, 46 (1): 77–90. 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:FWY5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.