#aculeola

This week's featured species looks like it was ripped out of the sci-fi classic Aliens! Meet the Viper Dogfish!

This week’s featured species is a deep water shark that is straight out of a sci-fi film. The Viper Dogfish (Trigonognathus kabeyai) is a member of the family Etmopteridae, which is the largest family of squaloid sharks with over fifty species in four genera. There is some debate on whether this family should be broken up into two clades; however, at present, the family Etmopteridae consists of…