Diagnosis

A moderately-sized, dark-coloured, cigar-shaped shark with a short blunt snout and two spineless dorsal fins of similar size but the second slightly larger; no anal fin; pelvic fins positioned just anterior to the second dorsal. Pectoral fins short and rounded. Ventral lobe of caudal fin very short; no caudal keels. Lips thick and well-developed; upper teeth small and hooked; lower jaw-teeth large and with serrated triangular cusps. Colour varies from black to brownish-grey throughout, sometimes with with a blotchy appearance although in most Mediterranean specimens seen by the author the pigment is regular.

Size

Adult females to at least 160 cm; males to at least 120 cm; commonly 90 cm to 120 cm.

Status and Distribution

Mediterranean Sea: Occasional or common; cosmopolitan through the Western  Mediterranean to the Ionian Sea (more so to the West; Alboran and Catalon Seas; also Tyrrhenian Sea) especially on the margins of deeper basins or offshore banks; apparently absent or very scarce in the Adriatic, Aegean and zones further eastwards.

Biology

A relatively common component of the Mediterranean's larger deep-water elasmobranch fauna, the kitefin shark is epibenthic on continental and insular shelves or slopes from about 40 to 1800 m depth (primarily below 200 m) but will also occurs some distance off the seabed.  A powerful, heavy-jawed predator, this species feeds primarily upon a wide spectrum of teleosts throughout the year and occasionally elasmobranchs, including hake, lanternfishes, gadids and even fast scombroids such as bonito; skates and small sharks such as Etmopterus spinax,  Squalus spp.  and Centrophorus  spp. (particularly in the Winter and Spring); also cephalopods (squid), crustaceans and annelid worms (polychaetes).  Crustaceans and small sharks become more important in the diet with increasing maturity, whilst the importance of cephalopods declines.  Mediterranean data indicates that this shark is solitary rather than schooling.  Ovoviviparous, with 10 to 16 young per litter; size at birth ca. 30 cm.  Age at maturity currently unknown but males apparently mature above 77 cm, females over 117 cm.  Small specimens, typically  40 to 50cm TL, are caught in Tunisian waters and through the Sicilian Channel.