fins are small, with the first dorsal fin origin lying behind the pelvic fin origins. There is no anal fin. The caudal peduncle is robust and lacks notches at the caudal fin origins. The asymmetrical caudal fin has an indistinct lower lobe and an upper lobe without a notch in the trailing margin. The skin is covered by a layer of foul-smelling mucus several millimeters thick. The dermal denticles are scattered irregularly over the body and vary greatly in size, measuring up to across. Each denticle is thorn-like in shape, with ridges radiating out from the central point over the base. As many as ten denticles may be fused together to form multi-pointed plates. The underside of the snout and the area around the mouth is densely covered by small denticles in sharks under long; these denticles become larger and sparser in larger sharks. This species is brown to black above, with a metallic purplish hue, and paler below; some individuals have red or black blotches. There is a report of one specimen that had a greenish glow when freshly caught. The bramble shark may reach in length. The maximum weight on record is for a long female. Distribution and habitat Records of the bramble shark are fairly rare and originate from widely scattered locations in tropical and temperate waters worldwide, save for the eastern Pacific Ocean. Most have come from the eastern Atlantic and western Indian Oceans, where its range extends from the North Sea and the British Isles to southern Mozambique, including the Mediterranean Sea. In the western Atlantic, this species is represented by a handful of specimens from Massachusetts, North Carolina, Louisiana, Tobago, Brazil, and Argentina. In the Indo-Pacific, it is known from Oman, India, southern Japan, southern Australia, New Zealand, and possibly Kiribati. Found close to the sea floor, the bramble shark most commonly inhabits continental and insular shelves and slopes at depths of . However, it has been reported from as shallow as , in areas with upwellings of cold water, and from as deep as . At least in European waters, this species may migrate into shallower depths of during the summer. Biology and ecology Sluggish in nature, the bramble shark feeds on smaller sharks (including the spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias), bony fishes (including ling, catfishes, and lizardfishes), and crabs. The large size of its pharynx, relative to its mouth, suggests that it may