a blunt apex and is positioned over the latter half of the pelvic fin bases. The second dorsal fin is nearly as large as the first and similar in shape, and positioned over the latter half of the anal fin base. The large, broad pectoral fins have rounded corners. The pelvic and anal fins are low and angular. The anal fin base measures roughly 10–14% of the total length, exceeding the distance between the pelvic and anal fins and about the same as the distance between the dorsal fins. The caudal fin is low, with a small lower lobe and a ventral notch near the tip of the upper lobe. The dermal denticles are small and overlapping; each has a leaf-shaped crown with a horizontal ridge and three marginal teeth. There is a prominent saw-toothed crest, formed from enlarged denticles, along the anterior portion of the dorsal caudal fin margin. This species is yellowish brown above with a marbled color pattern consisting of usually fewer than 11 dark saddles along the back and tail. Some smaller sharks have markings that form horizontal lines, while some larger sharks have round blotches along the sides. These markings can range from faint to well-defined by white outlines. The underside is pale, and the inside of the mouth is black. Distribution and habitat While the full extent of its range may remain to be documented, the roughtail catshark seems to have a disjunct distribution that does not overlap with that of either G. antillensis or G. cadenati. The northern population occurs from North Carolina southward to the Caribbean and the Yucatan Peninsula, and westward to the Mississippi River Delta. The southern population is found in the Caribbean Sea off the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The roughtail catshark is a demersal species typically inhabiting continental and insular slopes, occasionally venturing onto the shelf. It is abundant but unevenly distributed, with some areas harboring hundreds of sharks and other areas none at all. Sharks of the northern population have been recorded from depths of , and those of the southern population from . The shallowest records have tended to come from higher latitudes, suggesting that temperature plays more of a role than depth in determining the species' distribution; it has been captured from water ranging from . Both adults and juveniles occur up to a depth of , while usually only adults are