angel+shark

Angel Shark

This is an Angel Shark also known as a Squatina Squatina. The eyes are located on top and it has 5 gills underneath it. This shark is very harmless but should be respected due to his powerful jaw and sharp teeth. The class where this species is located is in the chondrichthyes section. Which is known as a type of shark.


 * Domain || Eukarya ||
 * Kingdom || Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Class || Chondrichthyes ||
 * Order || Squatiniformes ||
 * Family || Squatinidae ||
 * Genus || Squatina ||
 * Species || Squatina ||

__Habitat__

Angel sharks are located on sand and mudd bottoms of coastal waters worldwide.Angel sharks possess extensible jaws that can rapidly snap upwards to capture prey, and have long, needle-like teeth. They bury themselves in sand or mud lying in wait for prey.Characteristic features of this shark include a pair of cone-shaped barbels on its snout, angular pectoral fins, and a brown or gray dorsal coloration with many small dark markings. The angel sharks range is in the pacific ocean.



Abiotic Factors: There can be tropical cyclones and may be coming from south of Mexico from June to October and affect Mexico and Central America. continental influences cause climatic uniformity to be much less pronounced in the eastern and western regions at the same latitude in the North Pacific Ocean. Surface currents in the northern Pacific are dominated by a clockwise, warm-water gyre. Their trophic level is 4.0. Biotic Factors: Sharks fees on an extremely wide range of prey items.

Physical and Behavioral Adaptaions

Although this shark is a bottom dweller and appears harmless, it should be respected due to its powerful jaws and sharp teeth which can inflict painful lacerations if provoked. It may bite if a diver approaches the head or grabs the tail.If they are left alone, they will not attack this species like to be left alone and not to be bothered.

__Species Interactions:__The significant interactions with other species is that they swim and attack together they are pretty much alone. When they mate the male bites the female shark to interact.The angelshark is generally unaggressive towards humans, though it can deliver a severe bite if disturbed.When approached underwater the angelshark usually remains still or swims away, though there is a record of one circling a diver with its mouth open. The environment's food web is that this species is an consumer on the bottom of the ocean. He feeds off of fish and other species that are around nor near the bottom of the ocean.



__Conservation:__ Before 1978, angel sharks were usually thrown back when caught. But this changed dramatically when a Santa Barbara fish processor decided to promote the angel shark as a tasty morsel. After a slow start, the angel shark became so popular that the 366 pounds were catched in 1977. Increased to 350 tons in 1984. As a result the population of angel sharks rapidly decreased. Now there are limits on the minimum catchable size for angel sharks, and gillnet fishing is banned inshore of three miles. An angel shark spends its day buried in the sand, perfectly camouflaged by its gray, brown and black coloring. It lies there in ambush, waiting for small fishes to swim within gulping distance. The shark lunges upward sucks the fish into its huge mouth and swallows it whole. Even though bottom-dwelling sharks are usually gentle, picking up what appears to be a ray or a dead angel shark it can be very dangerous. The angel shark looks mean just by looking at it and oberserving. This species really does not like people or to be bothered.