The Hawaiian Lanternshark (Etmopterus villosus) is a species of small squaliform shark in the family Etmopteridae.

Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...

Hawaiian lanternshark
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Subdivision:	Selachimorpha
Order:	Squaliformes
Family:	Etmopteridae
Genus:	Etmopterus
Species:	E. villosus
Binomial name
Etmopterus villosus C. H. Gilbert, 1905
Range of the Hawaiian lanternshark (in blue)

Close

This type of Etmopteridae have a small but sturdy body. Research has found that females will reach to about 652 mm (25.7 in) in length, while males will reach about 624 mm (24.6 in) in length.^[2] The Hawaiian lantern shark has a muted color range consisting of browns and blacks on its upper half of its body. While the lower part are more consistent with a darker tonal range. A couple of noticeable characteristics for this organism is upon the area above the pelvic fin there is a black mark, there gills are about 6.25 mm (0.246 in) long. Another couple of noticeable characteristics is the second dorsal fin. It is larger than the first frontal fin, but the length is almost half the size of the other. Another noticeable characteristic unique to the lanternshark is that the spine has a slight curve to it instead of being straight.^[3]

These organisms can be found in the Hawaiian islands arounds depths of 1.61 km (1.00 mi).^[4] Some can be located more along the further of the Hawaiian island chain to the north. Researchers have found specimens near the Koko seamount and South Kanmu seamounts.^[5]

Due to such depths that these creature live at, the interaction with human is sparse. The only rare occasion that humans end up encountering such deep sea sharks is the use of deep sea nets that impeach upon the sharks depth.^[5] This also makes it not in the endangered species list.