Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department
PELAGIC THRESHER
Order - Lamniformes
Family - Alopiidae
Genus - Alopias
Species - pelagicus
Taxonomy
The pelagic thresher was first described by the Japanese ichthyologist Hiroshi Nakamura based on three large specimens that
measured between 2.9 and 3.3 m (9.4-10.8 ft) in total length. None of these specimens were kept as examples of this species
(termed 'type specimens'), although one of the three sharks and an additional fetal shark (1.0 m, 3.3 ft) was illustrated in
Nakamura's paper entitled
On the two species of the thresher shark from Formosan waters
, published in August, 1935. Oddly,
the fetus that was illustrated may actually be a different species of thresher, the common thresher ( |
