clasper hooks or claws. Dermal denticles on aphyodes's dorsal and lateral sides are concave and tricuspid (3 pointed) with the middle point being longer than the other 2. Habitat North Eastern Atlantic deep water off the coast of the UK is dominated by deep ocean basins. The average ocean depth is . Sediments are composed of clay particles and calcareous from phytoplankton. Near the continental shelf the sediment is primarily made of sand and mud scales. Deep water temperatures are 5.5–7.5 °C. Habitat characteristics are shaped by North Atlantic Deep Water and its resulting thermohaline circulation. Primary productivity in this part of the ocean is low and the area is considered oligotrophic or less than 100 g carbon per m2 per year, though it experiences short phytoplankton blooms of diatoms in the spring and fall due to the thermocline being weak in those times and strong upwelling and picoplankton blooms in the summer as the thermocline strengthens. Deep water corals consisting of Lophelia pertusa are the main reef building species present. They contain the area's highest biodiversity including species such as bryozoans, hydroids, sponges, redfish, saithe, cod, squat lobsters, squid, mollusks, starfish and sea urchins. Biodiversity in the area is also concentrate around hydrothermal vents. Three vent systems have been found in North Eastern Atlantic deep water named Lucy Strike, Menez Gwen and Rainbow. Hunting patterns Apristurus aphyodes preys upon crustaceans, cephalopods and small teleost (ray-finned) fish at depths of 1014 to 1080 m. Information about deepwater catsharks is very rare due to the lack of specimens. Research was conducted using individuals found in a deep water trawl survey of the Rockall Trough off Scotland in 2014. Heads of the individuals from the study were analyzed for their ampullae of lorenzini concentrations and distribution and it was concluded that the species is a vertical ambush predator that attacks from below due to the highest concentration of the electroreception pores being located on the dorsal portion of the snouts of full grown adults instead of the ventral portion, a trait shared by other vertical ambush sharks which attack from below. Some features of the shark head, such as a subterminal mouth, counter the idea of the catshark ambushing prey from below. The density of dorsal electroception could be explained instead by avoidance of predators from above. Researchers concluded that the species shifts its diet and hunting patterns from ambushing prey from