Preliminary observations on the reproductive biology and diet of the bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexanchus griseus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (Chondrichthyes: Hexanchidae), in Turkish Seas

Abstract

          A search through field surveys and literature revealed that 39 bluntnose sixgill sharks, Hexanchus griseus, were captured in the Black, Marmara, and Aegean Seas between 1974 and 2003. One of the specimens was captured in the prebosphoric waters of the southwestern Black Sea, 27 in the Sea of Marmara, and 11 in the Aegean Sea. H. griseus is hereby recorded for the first time in the southwestern Black Sea. Available information suggests that H. griseus gives birth from October to the end of February in the northern Aegean and Sea of Marmara. The main prey of the listed sixgill sharks were teleosteans.