English Name: Bluntnose Sixgill Shark
Local Name: Madu Miyaru
Size: Max. 4.8 m
Family: HEXANCHIDAE
Order: Hexanchiformes
Distinctive Characters: A large, heavy bodied shark with six gill slits. Small eyes. Broad head with rounded snout. Single dorsal fin. Six rows of comb-like teeth on each side of lower jaw, each with inner edge serrated.
Colour: Usually dark grey.
Habitat and Biology: Benthic or pelagic, on the continental and insular shelves and upper slopes. Depths from surface to at least 1875 m. Young often close inshore. Adults in deeper water below 91 m. Feeds on a wide range of marine organisms including other sharks, rays, bony fishes and carrion. Ovoviviparous litters very large, 22-108.
Distribution: Widespread in temperate and tropical waters.
Remarks: Hexanchus griseus is commonly caught in the fishery for deepwater spiny dogfish, ‘kashi miyaru keyolhu kan’. The liver of ‘Madu miyaru’ was prized for making oil for treating wooden dhonis, so this species was in earlier times subject to a specialized fishery: ‘madu miyaru keyolhu kan’. A photo of a Maldivian specimen is given in Anderson and Ahmed (1993, p.53).