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received: 2020-09-04                 DOI 10.19233/ASHN.2020.17
THE FIRST RECORD OF KITEFIN SHARK DALATIAS LICHA IN ALBANIAN 
WATERS
Nexhip HYSOLAKOJ 
Regional Administrate of Protected Areas in Vlora, Vlora, Albania
Rigers BAKIU
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Agricultural University of Tirana, Koder-Kamez, Albania
ACEPSD, Albanian Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Tirana, Albania
Alen SOLDO
Department of Marine Studies, University of Split, Croatia
e-mail: soldo@unist.com
ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to present the first documented record of the kitefin shark, Dalatias licha, in Albanian wa-
ters. Although Albania is situated at the confluence of two seas, and has an Adriatic as well as an Ionian coastline, D. 
licha was not recorded previously as present in Albanian waters, in either its Adriatic or Ionian parts. The kitefin shark 
individual was captured off the coast of Vlora by a professional fisherman and identified in situ by two researchers.
Key words: Kitefin shark, Dalatias licha, Chondrichthyes, Albanian coast, Adriatic Sea
PRIMO RITROVAMENTO DELLO SQUALO ZIGRINO DALATIAS LICHA IN ACQUE 
ALBANESI
SINTESI
Lo scopo di questo articolo è presentare il primo ritrovamento documentato dello squalo zigrino, Dalatias 
licha, nelle acque albanesi. Sebbene l’Albania sia situata alla confluenza di due mari e abbia una costa adriatica 
e una ionica, D. licha non è stata segnalata in precedenza nelle acque albanesi, né in quelle adriatiche né in 
quelle ioniche. Lo squalo zigrino è stato catturato al largo della costa di Valona da un pescatore professionista e 
identificato in situ da due ricercatori.
Parole chiave: squalo zigrino, Dalatias licha, Chondrichthyes, costa albanese, mare Adriatico
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INTRODUCTION
The kitefin shark, Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 
1788), is a deep-water, benthic to mesopelagic 
species, mainly distributed in the western Atlan-
tic, western Indian, and Pacific Oceans (Last & 
Stevens, 1994). The range of this species in the 
Mediterranean appears to be confined to the west-
ern and central basins of the Mediterranean, where 
it is considered as common (Baino et al., 2001; 
Navaro et al., 2014), while it is thought as rare in 
the eastern part of the basin (Ergüden et al., 2017). 
Occurence of the species has been documented 
several times off the western Mediterranean 
(Bottaro et al., 2005, Capapé et al., 2008) and 
Levantine coasts (Golani, 2005). Papaconstantinou 
(1988) reported the presence of the kitefin shark 
in the Aegean Greek waters, while Kabasakal and 
Kabasakal (2002) indicated the presence of the 
species in the north-eastern Aegean Sea. However, 
due to the absence of kitefin shark in the last 20 
years’ fishing records, Kabasakal & Karhan (2015) 
concluded that a Marmaric occurrence of D. licha 
is questionable and requires confirmation. Since 
then, the first record of an adult female specimen 
of D. licha was reported from Iskenderun Bay (East-
ern Mediterranean, Turkey) (Erguden et al., 2017). 
Chatzispyrou et al. (2019) reported the first record 
of D. licha in the Laconian Gulf of the Greek Ion-
ian Sea, where the kitefin shark is also considered 
to be a very rare species.
It is listed among Adriatic species, but considered 
very rare and confined to the deep waters of the 
central and south Adriatic (Lipej et al., 2004).
The kitefin shark reaches a maximum size of 182 
cm total length (TL); males mature at ca. 100 cm TL 
and females when they reach about 120 cm TL; the 
size at birth ranges from 30 to 40 cm TL. Reproduc-
tion is lecithotrophic viviparous; presumably asyn-
chronous; and litter size is 3–16 pups (average 6–8) 
(Daley et al., 2002; Ebert et al., 2013). This shark 
can reach a maximum age of 32–36 years, its age 
at maturity ranges from 15.5 to 21.5 years (Irvine et 
al., 2012), while generation length is estimated at 
29 years. A slow growth rate, late sexual maturity, 
and a long gestation period for its life span make 
this species vulnerable (Stevens et al., 2000). Little 
information is available on the biology of this spe-
cies in the Mediterranean. 
Albania, situated at the confluence of two seas, 
has 380 km of coastline, 284 km of which stretch 
along the Adriatic Sea in the north, and the remain-
ing 96 km face the Ionian Sea. Since the kitefin shark 
was not, until now, listed as present in Albanian 
waters, either in the Adriatic or Ionian area, this is 
the first documented report on the presence of D. 
licha in Albanian waters.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
On 22 July 2019, a single male individual of 
D. licha was landed by a professional fisherman in 
the Fishing Center Oriku (Radhime), South Albania. 
The specimen was caught during bottom trawling, 
between the north of the Sazani Island and Vjosa 
Delta, (40.580144° N, 19.176254° E), at a depth of 
300 m, in an area that belongs to the Adriatic Sea 
(Fig. 1). Identification and morphometric measures 
of the specimen were performed on site according to 
guidelines by Compagno (1984). After the measure-
ments were made, the specimen was frozen and kept 
in the freezer as part of the Fishing Center Orikum 
collection, in Vlora (Albania) for further investiga-
tions. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The specimen displayed the following combina-
tion of specific characteristics (Fig. 2): short-and 
blunt-snout, two almost equal-sized spineless dorsal 
fins, no anal fin, papillose thick lips, small slender-
cusped upper teeth and very large lower teeth with 
erect triangular serrated cusps and distal blades, the 
first dorsal fin on back with its origin behind the 
pectoral rear tips and its base closer to the pectoral 
base than the pelvis, and caudal fin with the ventral 
lobe not expanded (Compagno, 1984). The total 
length (TL) and weight (W) were 106 cm and 3.3 
kg, respectively. The specimen caught was an adult 
male. 
The global conservation status of the D. licha ac-
cording to IUCN standards is defined as vulnerable 
(Finucci et al., 2018), the same as in the Mediterra-
nean (Walls & Guallart, 2016). Moreover, in 2010, 
the European Union Fisheries Council prohibited 
direct fishing of kitefin shark in the European Com-
munity and international waters. In the Mediter-
ranean Sea, the ban on deep-water fishing below 
1,000 m of depth may provide the kitefin shark 
with a limited indirect respite from fishing pressure, 
although it refers to depths greater than the species’ 
preferred range.
D. licha is captured as bycatch in deep-water 
longline, bottom trawl, and gillnet fisheries in the 
western and central Mediterranean basins, and 
the biomass in this region seems to be very low 
(Baino et al., 2001), with local scientific trawl 
surveys indicating steady declines. Considering 
a 15% decline in the period between 1972 and 
2004, according to the data by Gruppo Nazionale 
Demersali (GRUND), and if an exponential decline 
is assumed, the annual proportional change would 
be 0.9949. Therefore, the reduction for the time 
period 1972–2059 (87 years, three generations) is 
36%. When projecting this decline into the future 
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(2015–2102, a three-generation period), a decline 
of another 36% is also calculated (Walls & Gual-
lart, 2016).
In the Mediterranean, the kitefin shark has been 
caught incidentally in benthic trawl targeting red 
shrimp, Aristeus antennatus (Risso, 1816), and 
Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 
1758). This species has likely been previously 
misidentified as other large deep-water sharks, 
including Portuguese dogfish, Centroscymnus 
coelolepis Barbosa du Bocage & de Brito Capello, 
1864, and leafscale gulper shark, Centrophorus 
squamosus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (ICES 2006). Dis-
card mortality is unknown, but presumed to be 
high (Rodríguez-Cabello & Sánchez, 2017), and 
the extent of illegal, unreported, and unregulat-
ed (IUU) fishing is unknown (Walls & Guallart, 
2016).
During exploratory surveys to collect data 
on exploited and virgin stocks of the deep-sea 
red shrimp (DESEAS project), kitefin sharks were 
caught in all three study areas (the Balearic, 
western Ionian, and eastern Ionian areas). In the 
Balearic area abundance decreased with depth, in 
the western Ionian area the species was found to 
be more abundant between 1,000 and 1,499 m, 
while in the eastern Ionian area it was present at 
shallower depths (Sion et al., 2004).
Jardas (1996) supposed that this species only 
occurs in the Adriatic in the comparatively deep 
waters of the Jabuka Pit, but is very rare. Later, 
Bello (1999) reported that D. licha is infrequently 
caught by bottom trawl on southern Adriatic 
bathyal grounds.
Albania is an EU candidate country and, since 
there is a general trend to increase the deep-water 
fishing effort, which is likely to affect the kitefin 
shark population in the future, we point out the 
need to investigate the biology and ecology of this 
species in the Mediterranean (including Albania) 
in order to determine the conservation strategies 
for D. licha in the Mediterranean Sea.
Fig. 1: Capture site off Vlora (triangle) of the D. licha specimen. 
Sl. 1: Lokacija ulova primerka vrste D. licha pri mestu Vlora.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Save Our Seas founda-
tion for the financial support of the surveys along 
the Albanian coasts to collect the data about 
shark catches.
Fig. 2: D. licha landed at the Fishing Center Orikum (Radhime), Albania. (a) The whole specimen, (b) head and 
eyes, (c) head and jaws, (d) tail, and (e) ventral side of the body. 
Sl. 2: Primerek vrste D. licha v ribiškem središču Orikum (RadhimeI, Albanija. (a) celotni primerek, (b) glava 
in oči, (c) glava in čeljusti, (d) rep in (e) trebušna stran telesa. 
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PRVI ZAPIS O POJAVLJANJU KLINOPLAVUTEGA MORSKEGA PSA DALATIAS LICHA V ALBANSKIH VODAH
Nexhip HYSOLAKOJ 
Regional Administrate of Protected Areas in Vlora, Vlora, Albania
Rigers BAKIU
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Agricultural University of Tirana, Koder-Kamez, Albania
ACEPSD, Albanian Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Tirana, Albania
Alen SOLDO
Department of Marine Studies, University of Split, Croatia
e-mail: soldo@unist.com
ABSTRACT
Namen tega prispevka je predstaviti prvi dokumentirani primer o pojavljanju klinoplavutega morskega psa, 
Dalatias licha, v albanskih vodah. Čeprav meji Albanija tako na Jadransko kot tudi na Jonsko morje, doslej D. 
licha ni bil potrjen v nobenem. Primerek klinoplavutega morskega psa je ujel ribič ob obali mesta Vlora, že na 
mestu samem pa sta ga določila raziskovalca.
Ključne besede: klinoplavuti morski pes, Dalatias licha, Chondrichthyes, albanska obala, Jadransko morje
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