Browsing by Author "Smit, Nico J"

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    Parasite assemblages of three endemic catshark species from the west and south coasts of South Africa
    (2009) Yeld, Eleanor Margaret; Griffiths, Charles L; Smit, Nico J
    This study focused on the parasite assemblages of three catshark (Elasmobranchii: Scyliorhinidae) species: the dark shyshark, Haploblepharus pictus, the puffadder shyshark, H. edwardsii and the pyjama shark, Poroderma africanum, all endemic to Southern Africa. These sharks are found from Namibia to Agulhas (H. pictus), Cape Point to Northern KwaZulu-Natal (H. edwardsii) and St Helena Bay to KwaZulu-Natal (P. africanum), and reach maximum total lengths of 60, 60 and 105 cm respectively. Sharks were collected by SCUBA divers and rod and line fishing from four sites between Saldanha Bay and De Hoop Nature Reserve. Parasites from the skin, gills, body cavity, spleen, stomach and intestine were counted, removed, and fixed as appropriate.