The southern African frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus africana) is a species of shark in the family Chlamydoselachidae, described in 2009. It is found in the deep waters off southern Angola to southern Namibia. This species is difficult to distinguish from the better-known frilled shark (C. anguineus), but is smaller at maturity and differs in several proportional measurements including head length and mouth width. It seems to be a specialized predator of smaller sharks, using its flexible jaws and numerous needle-like, recurved teeth to capture and swallow them whole. Reproduction is presumably aplacental viviparous, as with the other member of its family. Taxonomy The frilled shark (C. anguineus) was long thought to be the only extant member of its genus and family. The existence of a second Chlamydoselachus species off southern Africa was first suspected from a specimen caught off Lüderitz, Namibia in February 1988, by the South African research ship FRS Africana (after which this species would eventually be named). The specimen was an adult male smaller than other known mature C. anguineus, and subsequent investigations revealed other consistent differences between frilled sharks in this region and C. anguineus. The new species was termed Chlamydoselachus "sp. A", before being formally described in 2009 by David Ebert and Leonard Compagno, in a paper for the scientific journal Zootaxa. The holotype was a long immature female caught at a depth of off the Cunene River, Namibia, by the research vessel Benguela. Distribution and habitat The southern African frilled shark has only been confirmed to occur from off southern Angola to southern Namibia. Frilled sharks have also been captured off South Africa, at deep off Eastern Cape Province, and at deep off KwaZulu-Natal Province; it is uncertain whether these specimens are C. africana. Little is known of its habitat preferences; one known specimen was caught down in a zone of low dissolved oxygen and high nutrients, over a soft substrate. Description The southern African frilled shark looks very similar to the frilled shark, with a long snake-like body and a broad, flattened head. The eyes are large and rounded. The sizable mouth is placed terminally on the blunt snout, containing around 30 tooth rows in the upper jaw and 27 tooth rows in the lower jaw. Each tooth has three slender, smooth, recurved cusps, with tiny cusplets between them, and a base that interlocks with the tooth behind it. There are six pairs of