Apristurus bucephalus White, Last & Pogonoski, 2008
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 bighead catshark (Apristurus bucephalus) is a species of fish in the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. This species is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is the open seas. It belongs to a genus of poorly known deep-water catsharks, and is recorded from only three specimens taken off Perth, Western Australia. This species could be rare or uncommon, and the effects of fisheries are unknown, though if its biology is like other deep-water shark species, it may not be sufficiently fecund to withstand exploitation pressures.
Wikipedia contributors, Bighead catshark; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:03:17.516031+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Apristurus bucephalus White, Last & Pogonoski, 2008
- Name authority
- White, Last & Pogonoski, 2008
- 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 bucephalus White, Last & Pogonoski, 2008
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 |
| white ghost catsharkApristurus aphyodes Nakaya & Stehmann, 1998 | 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 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.
- White, W. T., Last, P. R., & Pogonoski, J. J. (2008). Apristurus bucephalus sp. nov., a new deepwater catshark (Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae) from southwestern Australia. Descriptions of New Australian Chondrichthyans. 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:FWYB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.