In order to gain a detailed understanding of the species that inhabit El Cachucho - a Protected Marine Area located off the coast of Llanes in Asturias (Northwest Spain) - the scientists studied three species of shark that live at depths of between 400 and 1,000 metres, the blackmouth catshark Galeus melastomus, the velvet belly lantern shark Etmopterus spinax, and the birdbeak dogshark Deania calcea.

El Cachucho is an undersea mountain located in the Cantabrian Sea, off the coast of Asturias. At around 4,500 metres in height (measured from its base on the deep-water plain of the Bay of Biscay), it has great faunal and biological wealth. It is the first exclusively marine reserve in Spain. To date, only parks such as Doñana, Cabrera and the Atlantic Islands of Galicia had extended their protection to include part of the maritime environment.

The study shows that the top of the bank (400-500 metres) is inhabited by two of the three shark species studied (the blackmouth catshark and the velvet belly lantern shark). "However, the velvet belly lantern shark is substituted in the deeper parts of the basin by the birdbeak dogshark", explains Izaskun Preciado, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Oceanographic Centre in Santander, which is run by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO)

In the deepest waters, the scientists sampled down to a depth of 1,100 metres and found that the blackmouth catshark and the birdbeak dogshark coexist there without any trophic competition between them, "since each one has specialised to eat a particular kind of food", says the oceanographer.

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