First documented smoothback angelshark Squatina oculata Bonaparte, 1840 from the North-Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Turkey

Abstract

One female specimen of the Smoothback Angelshark Squatina oculata was captured by a commercial trawler at a depth of 65 m on 4 November 2017 from Aydincik coast (North-eastern Mediterranean Sea, Turkey). Squatina oculata had not been reported in this part of the North-eastern Mediterranean Sea nearly for the last two decades. The captured specimen was 726 mm in total length and 3450 g in weight. Morphometric and meristic characters of the captured specimen are compared with the other Mediterranean records. Due to increasing fishing activities and habitat degradation throughout the Mediterranean Sea during the last decades, angelshark species are dramatically declined day by day. Thus, conservation status of the Smoothback Angelshark S. oculata in the Mediterranean Sea is classified as "Critically Endangered" at Global Red List by IUCN.