Sixgill Sawshark
Pliotrema warreni Regan, 1906a: 1, pl. 1. Syntypes: BMNH 1899.2.10.4 (skeleton in spirit), ~ 704 mm TL; BMNH 1905.6.8.9 (1). Type locality: False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, Western Cape Province, South Africa and off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Local synonymy: Pliotrema warreni: Regan, 1906a: 1, pl. 1; Thompson, 1914: 152; Gilchrist, 1922b: 50; Barnard, 1925: 53, fig. 3, pl. 3; Barnard, 1947: 20, fig. 6, pl. 3; Smith, 1949a: 62, pl. 3; Smith, 1965: 62, pl. 3; Bass et al., 1975d: 20, fig. 11, pl. 8; Compagno, 1984a: 132, fig.; Bass & Heemstra, 1986: 106, fig. 20.1; Compagno et al., 1989: 36, pl.; Compagno et al., 1991: 73; Compagno, 1999: 115; Ebert & Cailliet, 2011: 501; Ebert & Wilms, 2013: 86; Ebert, 2013: 153, fig. 162; Ebert et al., 2013a: 179, fig., pl. 18; Ebert & Mostada, 2013: 12, fig.; NPOA, 2013: 51; da Silva et al., 2015: 247; Ebert, 2015: 116, fig. 130; Ebert & Mostada, 2015: 10, fig.; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 145; Weigmann, 2016: 907; Weigmann et al., 2020: 1, figs. 26–27.? Pristiophorus cirratus (non Latham): Thompson, 1914: 153. A single record of this species is based on a specimen from False Bay (WC) that was a misidentification by G.A. Boulenger, but later used by Regan as one of the two syntypes for P. warreni (see Barnard, 1925: 53; Smith, 1949a: 61; Smith, 1965: 61).
South Africa voucher material: Syntypes: BMNH 1899.2.10.4, BMNH 1905.6.8.9. Non-types: SAIAB 4125, SAIAB 6225, SAIAB 8056, SAIAB 12978, SAIAB 14602, SAIAB 18301, SAIAB 26447, SAIAB 26448, SAIAB 26449, SAIAB 27434, SAIAB 69152, SAIAB 88248, SAIAB 99181, SAIAB 99182, SAIAB 99183, SAIAB 186452, SAIAB 189132, SAIAB 208021.
South Africa distribution: Table Bay (WC) to the KZN border with Mozambique.
Remarks: The genus Pliotrema has been considered to be monotypic, but a recent revision has revealed two new species in the genus (Weigmann et al., 2020); both new species do not occur off South Africa. The global distribution of P. warreni is now considered to range from central Namibia to southern Mozambique, with most of the population occurring on the Agulhas Bank (EC), South Africa.
Conservation status: LC (2020).
Order Orectolobiformes