Sulu Gollumshark

A small species of Gollum with the following combination of characters: body soft; head bell-shaped with a broadly parabolic snout; direct preorbital snout length 2.1–2.4 times eye length; preoral length 0.8–1.0 of mouth width, 1.3 times prenarial length; eye 1.4–1.5 times nostril length, more than 4.8 times spiracle length; head relatively broad, 12–14% TL; direct preorbital snout length 1.2–1.4 times interorbital space; head length 2.3–2.6 times mouth width, 8.0–9.0 times nostril width, 3.0–3.5 times preventral caudal-fin margin; length of pectoral-fin anterior margin 2.2–2.5 times its base; first dorsal-fin inner margin 0.5–0.6 of pectoral-fin base; second dorsal-fin base 10–12% TL; ventral head dusky, not strongly contrasted with dorsal surface along its lateral margin; posterior edges of dorsal fins not excessively concave; tips of dorsal fins dark; ventral margin of caudal fin dusky, not strongly contrasted with rest of fin; mouth dark; monospondylous centra 44–45, diplospondylous centra 107–109, total centra 151–154 (Ref. 87759).

The Sulu gollumshark (Gollum suluensis) is a species of ground shark in the family Pseudotriakidae, found off Palawan Island in the southern Philippines. This recently discovered species was discovered at a fish market in Palawan during a project lead by the World Wildlife Fund during the 1990s to investigate elasmobranch biodiversity in the area.

The Sulu gollumshark derives it’s named from the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. They can grow to sizes of 58.5 cm (1.9 ft) in length, and feature darker coloration and a wider head relative to the closely-related slender smooth-hound, another species of gollumshark.