Mustelus mosis Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1899

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 : 56-57

Mustelus mosis Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1899

Hardnose Houndshark

Mustelus mosis Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1899: 8 , pl. 7 (fig. 3 + a–d). Syntypes: ZMB 4501 (1). Type locality: Red Sea.

Local synonymy: Mustelus mosis: Bass et al., 1986: 82 , fig. 9.26; Compagno, 1988a: 223; Compagno et al., 1989: 58, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 119; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004: 64; Compagno et al., 2005: 275, fig., pl. 48; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 421, fig., pl. 58; NPOA, 2013: 44; da Silva et al., 2015: 248; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 145; Weigmann, 2016: 885.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 6229, SAIAB 7979, SAIAB 9499, SAIAB 10739, SAIAB 19387.

South African distribution: KZN from about Durban to the border with Mozambique.

Remarks: Van der Elst (1981) tentatively identified this species as Mustelus canis (non Mitchill), a western North Atlantic species, but Bass et al. (1986) subsequently identified it as M. mosis . Although its range in South African waters is only from about Durban north to Kosi Bay, it appears to have a very large regional range, occurring into the northern Indian Ocean (assuming it is the same species). A detailed revision of the WIO Mustelus is needed to clarify the status of this and other species in the region.

Conservation status: NT (2019).