Squalo angelo aculeato

The Natural History Gallery in Casalina houses an embalmed specimen of the Sawback angelshark (Squatina aculeata Cuvier, 1829) a cartilaginous fish which used to be widespread in the temperate waters of the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The squatina genus are one of three species in the family of “flat sharks” that have become very rare and are listed as Critically Endangered, in danger of global extinction especially due to non-sustainable fishing practices including net fishing and trawling.

This bottom-dwelling shark favours depths of 30 to 500 metres and is harmless to human beings, feeding mostly on flatfish and marine invertebrates it captures by stationary ambush in its primary habitat on the sea bottom. Natural history museums frequently preserve biodiversity specimens of species at risk of extinction as an archival record of life on earth.