Heptranchias perlo
(Bonnaterre, 1788) · speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Heptranchias perlo's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation16 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 699 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System1 795 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI41 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics64 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The sharpnose sevengill shark (Heptranchias perlo), also known as one-finned shark, perlon shark, sevengill cow shark, sharpsnouted sevengill or slender sevengill, is a species of shark in the family Hexanchidae, and the only living species in the genus Heptranchias. Found almost circumglobally in deep water, it is one of the few species of sharks with seven pairs of gill slits as opposed to the usual five. The other shark species with seven gill slits is the broadnose sevengill shark. Though small, this shark is an active, voracious predator of invertebrates and fish. When caught, this species is notably defensive and will attempt to bite. It is of minor commercial importance.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology1
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Heptranchias perlo has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Heptranchias perlo carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The solid bar is the fossil range: the span between the oldest and the youngest fossil that palaeontologists have assigned to Heptranchias perlo. Above itBeside it, each dot is one dated fossil find — few enough to count, so they are drawn individually rather than as a graph.
How it livedPBDB
Record type3 498 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions16 of 48 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 54 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 29 |
| Washington, US | 25 |
| Sydney, AU | 19 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 19 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 18 |
| Paris, FR | 16 |
| DOI/NPS, Salem Maritime National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 12 |
| SEAOBISlocation not on record | 11 |
| IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record | 8 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 8 |
| Museums Victorialocation not on record | 6 |
| Kagoshima University Museumlocation not on record | 6 |
| Cambridge, US | 5 |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 5 |
| Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per l'Ambiente Marino Costierolocation not on record | 5 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 4 |
| Natick, US | 4 |
| Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record | 4 |
| CSIRO, Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 4 |
| National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korealocation not on record | 4 |
| Republic of Cyprus, Ministry of Agriculture, Dept. of Fisheries and Marine Researchlocation not on record | 4 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 3 |
| DASSHlocation not on record | 3 |
| CASlocation not on record | 3 |
| Auckland, NZ | 2 |
| Barcelona, ES | 2 |
| ICM-CSIClocation not on record | 2 |
| Tromsø, NO | 1 |
| Western Australian Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 1 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record | 1 |
| QVMAGlocation not on record | 1 |
| Fisheries Research Laboratory, Mie Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record | 1 |
| Chicago, US | 1 |
| Mexico City, MX | 1 |
| National Natural History Collectionslocation not on record | 1 |
| 1 | |
| Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Francelocation not on record | 1 |
| Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratorylocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Barilocation not on record | 1 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 1 |
| Mexico City, MX | 1 |
| Los Angeles, US | 1 |
| Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientalelocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Heptranchias perlo was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.