First documented record of a gravid female kitefin shark Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 1788) with embryos from Libyan Mediterranean waters

A gravid female kitefin shark Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 1788) measuring 98.7 cm in total length (TL) and weighing 4800 g was caught by set longline off Susah, eastern Libya, on 5 May 2025. The uterus contained six embryos (TL 12.5-13.5 cm; mean 13.0 ± 0.17 cm, SE), each still attached to a large external yolk sac. The female lies at the lower limit of the size range reported for mature and pregnant females in the Mediterranean Sea and is considerably smaller than mature females reported from Atlantic waters. The litter of six falls within the range known for the species and equals the only other Mediterranean litter described in detail, off Algeria. The embryos were at an earlier developmental stage than those previously documented in the Mediterranean. This is the first record of a gravid D. licha with embryos from Libyan waters. As a single observation it cannot be used to infer population traits, but it provides reproductive data from the southern Mediterranean, where information on this threatened deep-sea shark is almost absent.