The first scientific description of the smooth lanternshark, as Acanthidium pusillum, was published by British biologist Richard Thomas Lowe, in an 1839 issue of the scientific journal Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.
This species was later moved to the genus Etmopterus.
The specific epithet pusillus means "weak" in Latin.
The smooth lanternshark forms a species group with the blurred lanternshark (E. bigelowi); these two species are distinguished from other lantern sharks by their irregularly arranged, truncated (ending in a flat crown as though the tip were cut off) dermal denticles.
The first scientific description of the smooth lanternshark, as Acanthidium pusillum, was published by British biologist Richard Thomas Lowe, in an 1839 issue of the scientific journal Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. This species was later moved to the genus Etmopterus. The specific epithet pusillus means "weak" in Latin. The smooth lanternshark forms a species group with the blurred lanternshark (E. bigelowi); these two species are distinguished from other lantern sharks by their irregularly arranged, truncated (ending in a flat crown as though the tip were cut off) dermal denticles.
Smooth lanternshark