Japanese catshark [SEP] parent taxon
Japanese catshark
The Japanese catshark ("Apristurus japonicus") is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae, found in the northwest Pacific off Chiba Prefecture, Honshū, Japan, between 36 and 34°N. 
This shark has a relatively slender body, with the trunk tapering towards the head. Its snout is moderately long, bell-shaped, and broad; the preoral snout is about 7 to 8% of total its length. It has large gill slits, rather small eyes in adults, nostrils fairly broad, and
", and "ailouros" meaning "cat". In 1973, Leonard Compagno placed it and the bluegrey carpetshark in their own family. This shark may also be referred to as the brown catshark or dusky dogfish.
Various phylogenetic studies, based on morphology, have concluded that the blind shark lineage represents the sister taxon to the wobbegongs. Blind shark fossils have been found in Late Cretaceous period (99.6–65.5 Ma) deposits from Europe, as well as in Pliocene epoch (5.3–2.6 Ma) deposits from Chile and Peru.