Rhinochimaera atlantica Holt & Byrne, 1909

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 105

Rhinochimaera atlantica Holt & Byrne, 1909

Atlantic Spearnose Ghostshark

Rhinochimaera atlantica Holt & Byrne, 1909: 279 . Holotype (unique): BMNH 1910.9 .17.4. Type locality: Irish Atlantic Slope off southwest Ireland, 50°32'– 50°28'N, 11°34'– 11°28'W.

Local synonymy: Rhinochimaera atlantica: Penrith, 1969: 66 (in part, including R. africana ); Shcherbachev, 1978: 8 (in part); Compagno, 1986: 146, fig. 33.3; Compagno et al., 1989: 122, pl.; Compagno et al., 1990: 205, fig. 6; Compagno et al., 1991: 116; Compagno, 1999: 120; Didier et al., 2012: 100; Ebert, 2014: 104, fig. 168; Ebert, 2015: 204, fig. 235; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 148; Weigmann, 2016: 1006. Rhinochimaera pacifica: Shcherbachev, 1978: 8 (in part).

South Africa voucher material: Numerous uncatalogued specimens at SAIAB and SAM.

South African distribution: The Orange River (NC) to Plettenberg Bay (WC); records from off northern KZN are R. africana .

Remarks: This species is relatively common off the west coast where it is usually caught in large aggregations of the same sex and size at over 700 m deep.

Conservation status: LC (2020).