Chordates • Earth.com

Philippines spurdog

(Squalus montalbani)

galery

Description

The Philippine spurdog or Indonesian greeneye spurdog (Squalus montalbani),is a relatively large species of dogfish shark native to waters off the coast of Australia,the Philippines,and Indonesia.The species was identified in 1912 from a specimen caught off the coast of Luzon Island,and has been both bycatch and a targeted species in fisheries since.Its taxonomy is complex,having been renamed in 1931,being misidentified as a type of shortspine spurdog,then being revived as a species in 2007.It is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to past and present threats from fisheries.It is morphologically similar to several other species,which makes identification difficult.The species is identified as a member of the mitsukurii group,a species complex The similarity to other species has posed problems in identifying trends in the species,and thus,in its conservation.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
Class: Elasmobranchii
Order:Squaliformes
Family:Squalidae
Genus:Squalus
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