Haploblepharus, Garman, 1913
Haploblepharus is a genus of deepwater catsharks, belonging to the family Pentanchidae, containing four species of shysharks. Their common name comes from a distinctive defensive behavior in which the shark curls into a circle and covers its eyes with its tail. The genus is endemic to southern Africa, inhabiting shallow coastal waters. All four species are small, stout-bodied sharks with broad, flattened heads and rounded snouts. They are characterized by very large nostrils with enlarged, triangular flaps of skin that reach the mouth, and deep grooves between the nostrils and the mouth. Shysharks are bottom-dwelling predators of bony fishes and invertebrates. They are oviparous, with the females laying egg capsules. These harmless sharks are of no commercial or recreational interest, though their highly limited distributions in heavily fished South African waters are of potential conservation concern.
Different shyshark species are very similar to one another in appearance but can be reliably differentiated using morphological measurements. However, in the field the only way to readily tell them apart is by their different color patterns, and even this may be problematic as individuals of the same species can vary considerably in coloration. All four species are small, seldom exceeding 60 cm (24 in) in length.
All four shyshark species are endemic to the southern tip of Africa; three of them are found only off South Africa, while the range of the dark shyshark extends to southern Namibia. They are bottom-dwelling in nature and usually found in shallow, coastal waters over sandy or rocky bottoms.
Shysharks feed on a variety of small benthic bony fishes and invertebrates. In turn, they are preyed upon by larger fishes and marine mammals. When threatened, these sharks adopt a curious posture in which they curl their bodies into a ring and cover their eyes with their tails, which is the origin of the name "shyshark". This behavior likely serves to make the shark more difficult for a predator to swallow. Shysharks are oviparous with females producing egg capsules (known as "mermaid's purses") two at a time. Reproduction has been investigated in the puffadder and dark shysharks; neither species appears to have a distinct breeding season, and their eggs take around three and a half weeks to hatch.
Due to their small size, shysharks pose no danger to humans and are not sought by either commercial or recreational fishers. They are taken as bycatch and hooked by shore anglers, who regard them (and other catsharks) as minor pests. Although shysharks are not uncommon, their extremely limited distribution within heavily fished waters raises concerns that a local increase in fishing pressure or habitat degradation could affect entire species populations. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed two shyshark species as Near Threatened.
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