Apristurus melanoasper
Scyliorhinidae · saltwater water fish
1 minute read · Species guide
The black roughscale catshark (Apristurus melanoasper) is a species of shark belonging to the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. It is recorded from the north Atlantic, eastern South Atlantic, in the Indian Ocean and around Australia and New Zealand. The species can be found on continental shelf at depths between 510 and 1,520 m. It can grow up to 90 cm (35 in).
The New Zealand Department of Conservation has classified the black roughscale catshark as "Data deficient" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.
Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Black roughscale catshark (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
Range
GBIF holds no US occurrence record for this species under this name. That is a gap in the record, not evidence that the fish is absent: ITIS files it as a US species.
Habitat
Classification