First record of the bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexanchus griseus (Elasmobranchii, Hexanchiformes, Hexanchidae), from the southwestern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

We report an adult male bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexachus griseus (Bonnaterre, 1788), of 326 cm in total length and 197 kg, which was captured by longline at a depth of about 120 m off Veracruz, Mexico. It was characterized by having six gills, six rows of large, serrated comb-shaped teeth on each side of the lower jaw. This record is the first for the southern Gulf of Mexico and the first confirmed for Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.