Pseudocarcharias kamoharai ( Matsubara, 1936 )

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 : 41

Pseudocarcharias kamoharai ( Matsubara, 1936)

Crocodile Shark

Pseudocarcharias kamoharai Matsubara, 1936: 380 . Holotype: FAKU 1823; apparently lost according to Compagno (2001). Type locality: Koti, Japan.

Local synonymy: Carcharias kamoharai : D’Aubrey, 1964a: 14, pl. 2; D’Aubrey, 1964b: 9, figs. 1–4. Odontaspis kamoharai : Bass et al., 1975c: 8, fig. 5. Pseudocarcharias kamoharai : Compagno, 1984a: 225, fig.; Bass, 1986: 103, fig. 18.1; Compagno et al., 1989: 40, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 118; Compagno, 2001: 72, fig. 58; Compagno et al., 2005: 177, fig., pl. 27; Ebert, 2013: 152, fig. 186; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 214, fig., pl. 25; Ebert & Mostada, 2013: 14, fig.; NPOA, 2013: 50; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 67, fig.; da Silva et al., 2015: 247; Ebert, 2015: 129, fig. 140; Ebert & Mostada, 2015: 11, fig.; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 145; Compagno, 2016: 1229, Weigmann, 2016: 853.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 6181 [former ORI 528], SAIAB 6205 [former ORI 1745].

South African distribution: Known from a few specimens in the WC between Saldanha Bay and Cape Point, including a couple that washed up on beaches. Likely occurs along the entire coast offshore.

Remarks: D’Aubrey (1964b) compared a specimen captured off Cape Town to all other known synonyms for this species, concluding that only a single species exists worldwide. At least two specimens were found washed up on beaches or swimming feebly in the surf in False Bay and near Cape Point and another was caught off Saldanha Bay on a longline (WC). The species is very common in the Mozambique Channel and so it is likely to be found along the entire coast of South Africa.

Conservation status: LC (2019).