Diet of the sixgill sharkHexanchus griseusoff southern Africa

The sixgill shark Hexanchus griseus is a large, active, deep-water species that typically occurs along the outer continental shelves and their upper slopes. Stomach analysis was performed on 137 specimens collected off Namibia and South Africa. The major prey groups were cephalopods, teleosts, chondrichthyans and marine mammals. Dietary changes of sixgill sharks are related to growth. In most of their area of distribution, sixgill sharks have few comparable competitors, because sympatric squaloids and lamnoids of equivalent size feed at a lower trophic level.