Filetail Catshark

The filetail catshark (Parmaturus xaniurus) is a species of shark belonging to the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. This species is an Eastern Pacific endemic deepwater catshark ranging along the west coast of North America from Washington to the Gulf of California. Its name refers to the toothlike projections on its skin. Nothing was known of its abundance or population structure as of 2003, but it was reported to be fairly common, being one of the most commonly encountered cartilaginous fishes in the annual West Coast Groundfish Bottom Trawl Survey from 2003 to 2011.

Adults are epibenthic and found near areas of rocky vertical relief over soft mud bottoms on the outer continental shelf and upper slope at depths of 91 to 1,251 m. Juveniles are mesopelagic, found around 500 m off the bottom in waters over 1,000 m deep. They have been seen at the Lasuen Knoll during ROV expeditions at roughly 300 m deep. It reaches a maximum size of 61 cm TL.