How many species of sharks, skates, rays and chimaera can you name? Maybe 5 or 20 or even 50? There are 1188 known species of cartilaginous fish worldwide and due to advances in taxonomic research and deepsea exploration this number is continuously increasing.

204 of those species are currently known to occur in Southern Africa, which makes this region the 4th most diverse Chondrichthyan hotspot worldwide.

Did you know that far off the South African coast researchers have recorded species like the Dumb gulper shark and the Pygmy shark, which doesn't grow bigger than 26cm?

We have compiled a list of all Chondrichthyan species that are known to occur in Southern Africa and it's ready to download.

#sharks #skates #rays #chimaera #specieslist #SouthernAfrica