dated 16.09.2024
hi, hello! welcome to our first exploration. today we are in search of an African Angelshark! scientifically, they are called Squatina Africana, and they are a part of the Squatinidae family.
oh, you found one! so.. why do they call it the African Angelshark and what differs themselves from normal Angelsharks? to my best knowledge, African Angelsharks share the same anatomical characteristics. what is different might be only from the ecological aspect. if you look at the image, most evidently you can see that they essentially have a pancake build. you know those pancake artists where they show their artworks in the form of pancakes? if they ever make a realistic African Angelshark pancake, i don't know about you but i probably would mistake it for a real one. what i mean to say is that they have compressed top and a flat bottom.. like a pancake.
WAIT, GUYS. i found an actual pancake of an Angelshark and i was correct when i said i would mistake it for an actual one. wait.. it’s not a pancake. it’s an actual one lol let me shut up and just show you the picture
Sorry about that. Let's diverge ourselves on its other anatomical characteristics! From the image above, (not the what-might-or-might-not-be-a-pancake one) they have large pectoral and pelvic fins on their sides. Angelsharks in general earned their name because of this trait due to their pectoral fins resembling angel wings. If you can't see it for the first time like I couldn't before, think of snow angels. I think that gives a better picture on the name justification.
They do not have an anal fin, for an obvious reason that they have been a bottom-dwelling species, but they do have two cute little dorsal fins of the same size at a very near point of their tails to make up for the stability of their bodies to avoid themselves from tipping to the sides. They have two dorsal fins instead of one because they contribute to performance for quick movements to catch preys. Why two? Why not just one? Well, simply speaking, they have two because it accommodates them better than one would. I would think of it like asking why humans get five fingers and not three like a sloth's claws/fingers.
They also have a short caudal fin, which is a really interesting trait compared to other sharks, because they are not active swimmers and prefer to be ambush predators when it comes to hunting. You can also see that they have a large and round head, with eyes and nostrils at the front of it. Take a look, and you will see the barbels at the end of their snouts. They look like whiskers! They use them to detect and pick up any possible prey. For protection, they adapted to having dermal denticles concentrated on their snout and above the eyes. In general, dermal denticles are like built-in armour. I think that’s pretty cool that they normalised armour-wear. Us when? I want to look like a knight in front of the cinema cashier some time. Since they reside on the seafloor, the d.d gives protection to their eyes and snout when they get really close to the floor. This is really beneficial to them, as they prefer to bury themselves in sand or mud to wait for preys to be grabbed as a method of hunting.
They are usually circa 3.08ft long with the maximum size of 4ft long that we know of and can be found within 494m deep within southwestern Indian Ocean off the coast of Southwest Africa, from South Africa to Mozambique and Tanzania. For scale, their size is the equivalent to your nearest Labdrador Retriever.
Angelsharks, including this particular one, are ovoviviparous, meaning that they do not lay eggs and instead give birth. They mate during the springtime since the males’ reproductive system are essentially disabled from fertilising the females during other times to optimise reproductive success due to warmer waters. They have a litter size of around 7-11, where their pups can be up to 0.79ft long, the equivalent of your basic ruler at home, and can weigh up to a small package of the butter you have in your fridge. (120g)
Now, dear shark biologist, it is an unfortunate thing to tell you that the IUCN Red List had classified the African Angelshark as Near Threatened, close to meeting Vulnerable A2d from the Red List assessment.
What is more unfortunate is that the reason being why this happens is most likely due to unregulated crawl and gillnet fisheries. You can find this in page 13 of this research article here: