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Sixgill Sharks
Hexanchus
The sixgill sharks are a genus, Hexanchus, of deepwater sharks in the family Hexanchidae. These sharks are characterized by a broad, pointed head, six pairs of gill slits, comb-like, yellow lower teeth, and a long tail. They can grow up to 8 m long and weigh over 600 kg (1320 lb). They are abyssal plain scavengers with a keen sense of smell and are among the first to arrive at carrion, together with hagfish and rattails. They show a...
3 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 3 known species
Bluntnose Sixgill Shark
speciesHexanchus griseus
Bigeye Sixgill Shark
speciesHexanchus nakamurai
Atlantic sixgill shark
speciesHexanchus vitulus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Hexanchus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 88895.