The Smalltooth Sandtiger (Odontaspis ferox) is a large (to 450 cm total length) shark with a widespread but patchy global distribution, inhabiting both continental coasts and numerous offshore and oceanic islands. It is demersal on the continental and insular shelves and upper slopes at depths of 10–1,015 m, and is occasionally seen near coral reef dropoffs, rocky reefs, and gullies; it may also be epipelagic above oceanic ridges. The biology is poorly known, however, it is thought to have very low biological productivity, greatly reducing its ability to withstand fishing pressure. Across much of its range, the Smalltooth Sandtiger is captured as targeted catch and bycatch in artisanal, recreational, and industrial fisheries using a wide variety of fishing gears, including midwater and demersal trawl, vertical and demersal longline, demersal gillnet, spears, harpoons, and hand line, and may be retained for its meat, unless local regulations prohibit retention. Across large parts of its range, intense and unregulated fisheries operate in the core depths of the species (300–700 m). Limited data are available on population size, trends, and structure of the Smalltooth Sandtiger. The species is very infrequently reported and has been confused with other sharks, making monitoring population trends over time difficult. The low number of records in the Atlantic combined with high intrinsic sensitivity may reflect the species was previously overfished there. It is inferred to have disappeared from most of the Mediterranean Sea based on an absence of recent sightings or catches. It has been overfished in a targeted deepwater shark liver oil fishery in the Western Indian Ocean. In the Pacific Ocean off south-eastern Australia, the Smalltooth Sandtiger has been estimated to have undergone a >99% population reduction over three generation lengths (75 years) on regularly trawled upper-slope grounds. The Smalltooth Sandtiger is suspected to have undergone a population reduction of 50–79% over the last three generation lengths (75 years) based on levels of exploitation and is therefore assessed as globally Endangered A2d.

The Smalltooth Sandtiger has a patchy yet widespread global distribution in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans and Mediterranean Sea, including numerous offshore and oceanic islands (Ebert et al. 2021). The species has also been recorded in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (high seas), including the Southwest Indian Ridge in the Indian Ocean and Louisville Seamount Chain in the Pacific Ocean (Fergusson et al. 2008). Since the previous assessment (Graham et al. 2016), the distribution map has been refined to map this species to its known bathymetric range.

Few data are available on population size, trends, and structure of the Smalltooth Sandtiger. The species is very infrequently reported across its range and has been confused with other sharks, making monitoring population trends over time difficult.

Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
The Smalltooth Sandtiger has been rarely recorded from the Atlantic Ocean. Since 1991, there have been 18 records from the Azores; 14 of these were between 1996 and 2014, representing the largest number of individuals reported from a single area in the Northeast Atlantic region (Barcelos et al. 2018). Between 1989 and 2020, 17 records of Smalltooth Sandtiger were reported from the western North Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea (Higgs et al. 2022). Few records exist elsewhere, including off Brazil (Long et al. 2014). Two stranding records were reported off Wexford county (Ireland) and Solent, Hampshire (United Kingdom) in 2023, extending the northernmost distribution of the species in the Northeastern Atlantic (Curnick et al. 2023). The species may be naturally rare in the Atlantic or the low number of records may reflect the species was previously overfished to the low levels observed since 1991.

In the Mediterranean Sea, the species is now rarely reported and is inferred to have disappeared from most of the Mediterranean Sea based on the absence of recent sightings or catches (Pollard et al. 2016). Recent records are almost exclusively from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea (Kabasakal and Bayri 2019, Akbora et al. 2020, Soldo et al. 2022). The Mediterranean Large Elasmobranchs Monitoring (MEDLEM) database, a collection of shark records from the Mediterranean and Black Seas from 1666 to 2017, only contains 10 records of Smalltooth Sandtiger (Mancusi et al. 2020). There are an additional 10 unpublished records of the species from Greece for the period 2000–2019 (I. Giovos, pers. comm. 17 June 2023). It is likely the species has been misidentified and recorded as another species (e.g., Soldo et al. 2022). Across the region, large declines (90%) or the altogether disappearance of other slope species have been documented since the 1940/50s (Aldebert 1997, Ferretti et al. 2005). Fishing effort has shifted to deep waters in recent decades (Ramírez-Amaro et al. 2020), and the Smalltooth Sandtiger is now unlikely to have much refuge from fishing.

Indian Ocean
The only confirmed local records for this species in South Africa are from a deepwater (400–420 m) trawl along the southern KwaZulu-Natal coast, South Africa in the late 1980s (Graham et al. 2016). It has not been recorded in recent local catches (2010–2012) but it is also possible that the Smalltooth Sandtiger has been confused with the more common Sand Tiger (Carcharias taurus) (Cliff and Olbers 2022). Targeted shark fisheries off Madagascar, including fishing for the Smalltooth Sandtiger, showed signs of population declines between the early 1990s and early 2000s, but it is also unclear here if the perceived declines in Smalltooth Sandtiger numbers was because of unreliable identifications (McVean et al. 2006).

In deep water off the Maldives, the Smalltooth Sandtiger was taken in the deepwater shark liver oil fishery. This fishery collapsed in the early 2000s due to targeted fishing after only about 20 years of exploitation. Although time series data are not available for catches or landings, figures for shark liver oil exports show a peak in 1982 soon after the fishery commenced, to be followed by a general downwards trend until 1989; there was then increases in 1990 and 1991 before a complete crash sometime thereafter with available data showing very low export figures from 1996 onward (Kyne and Simpfendorfer 2007, Ali 2015).

Pacific Ocean
Off Australia, the Research Vessel Kapala conducted fishery-independent trawl surveys in 1976–77 and 1996–97 on the upper slope off New South Wales (NSW), an area heavily commercially fished during that time. A total of 14 individuals were caught during 246 tows in 1976–77, but only a single juvenile was taken from 165 tows in 1996–97. In all deepwater research trawls between 1975 and 1997, the Kapala caught a total of 36 Smalltooth Sandtigers, of which 33 were caught during 1975–1981 (from 500 slope trawls), but only three from ~300 trawls during 1982–1997 (Graham et al. 1997, Graham et al. 2001, Kyne et al. 2021). These declines would equate to an estimated 99% population reduction over three generation lengths (75 years). The Smalltooth Sandtiger has been reported in small numbers in commercial fisheries off New Zealand, with a total of eight records between 1997 and 2021, and has also been misidentified as other species, including Prickly Shark (Echinorhinus cookei) (Finucci et al. 2022). An additional ~20 individuals were also captured between 1980 and 2005 and kept for aquarium display (Graham et al. 2016). Elsewhere across the Pacific, the species is very infrequently reported (e.g., Kanesawa et al. 2001, Hsu et al. 2013, Estupiñán-Montaño et al. 2016).

The Smalltooth Sandtiger is suspected to have declined across much of its range. Although it may be naturally rare, its occurrence in coastal waters exposed to intense and unregulated pressure and in deeper waters regularly fished, along with its capture in a wide range of fisheries and gears and its likely very low fecundity indicate it is susceptible to capture and has a very low capacity to recover from fishing mortality. The Smalltooth Sandtiger is suspected to have undergone a population reduction of 50–79% over the last three generation lengths (75 years) based on levels of exploitation. Therefore, the species is assessed as Endangered A2d.

The Smalltooth Sandtiger is demersal on the continental and insular shelves and upper slopes at depths of 10–1,015 m with a core depth range of 300–700 m (Ebert et al. 2021). It is sometimes seen near coral reef dropoffs, rocky reefs, and gullies, has some preference for steep rocky ground, and may be epipelagic, with individuals caught at depths of 70–500 m over water 2,000–4,000 m deep (Fergusson et al. 2008, Ebert et al. 2021). It reaches a maximum size of 450 cm total length (TL), males mature at 200–250 cm TL, females mature at 300–350 cm TL, and size-at-birth is ~100–105 cm TL (Fergusson et al. 2008, Ebert et al. 2021). Its biology is poorly known; based on the Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus), reproduction may be adelphophagic viviparous (also observed in one Smalltooth Sandtiger: Compagno 2001) with small litter sizes (two pups) and a biennial reproductive cycle (Rigby et al. 2021). Maximum age and age-at-maturity are unknown; maximum age is inferred from the Sand Tiger Shark, with female age-at-maturity estimated at 7–10 years and maximum age estimated at 40 years (Rigby et al. 2021). This results in a generation length of 25 years.

The Smalltooth Sandtiger is rarely captured and is taken as targeted catch and bycatch in artisanal, recreational, and industrial fisheries across its range using a wide range of fishing gears, including midwater and demersal trawl, vertical and demersal longline, demersal gillnet, spears, harpoons, and hand line (Fergusson et al. 2008, Barcelos et al. 2018, Higgs et al. 2022). The species has historically been confused and recorded as other species, including the Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus), the Prickly Shark (Echinorhinus cookei), and smoothhound (Mustelus spp.), making it difficult to directly assess the effect of fishing over time. However, given that these other species have been severely depleted and undergone local extinctions historically (e.g., Rigby et al. 2021), then it is likely that this species will have suffered a similar fate. It is likely that incidental catches of Smalltooth Sandtiger are greater than reported, particularly as juveniles are more easily landed and sold without attracting attention or proper identification (Fergusson et al. 2008).

Reported catches in shallow waters (<200 m) (e.g., Fergusson et al. 2008, Barcelos et al. 2018, Mucientes et al. 2023), suggest the species is susceptible to capture in many intense and unregulated coastal fisheries across its range and hence, its absence from shelf fisheries in the North Atlantic can be inferred to have resulted from early overfishing. Like the Sand Tiger Shark, the Smalltooth Sandtiger's tendency to aggregate increases its risk to targeted fishing and capture (e.g., Chiaramonte et al. 2007). Since the 1970s, there has been a substantial increase in deepwater fishing effort worldwide and the depths at which the Smalltooth Sandtiger commonly lives (300–700 m) are regularly fished. Recent deepwater catches (to 731 m) from the Western Central Atlantic are indicative of regional fisheries expansion into deeper waters and this expansion may be increasing the species' risk where it previously had refuge from fishing activities (Higgs et al. 2022). Deepwater sharks are becoming more frequently recorded at local landing sites in countries including Belize and Guatemala and should be closely monitored (Hacohen-Domené et al. 2020, Baremore et al. 2021). The likely very low fecundity of the species would significantly reduce its resilience to fishing pressure.

The species may be retained and utilized for its meat when captured (e.g., Hsu et al. 2013, Amor et al. 2020). It may be marketed as a different species; for example, small individuals of Smalltooth Sandtiger have been marketed as smoothhound (Mustelus spp.) in Croatia (Fergusson et al. 2008, Soldo et al . 2022). Historically, the Smalltooth Sandtiger has also been used for its liver oil, fins, jaws, and was occasionally kept in aquariums with limited success (Graham et al. 2016). It is popular for dive tourism in some locations such as the Canary Islands and Malpelo Island.

There are some species-specific conservation measures in place for the Smalltooth Sandtiger. In New Zealand, the species is protected under the New Zealand Wildlife Act 1953; it illegal to hunt, kill or harm the species within New Zealand's territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone and interactions with the species must be reported (Finucci et al. 2022). The species is also protected along the New South Wales (NSW) coast of Australia where it was provided protection to avoid any mis-identification or claims of confusion with the seriously depleted Sand Tiger (Carcharias taurus) population (NSW DPI 2023). The Smalltooth Sandtiger may benefit from similar protection measures in other parts of its range where it is currently not protected (e.g., South Africa) but the Sand Tiger is protected.

In 2012, parties to the Barcelona Convention agreed that this species (as listed in Annex II of the Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity Protocol for the Mediterranean) cannot be retained on board, transhipped, landed, transferred, stored, sold, displayed or offered for sale, and must be released unharmed and alive, to the extent possible, pursuant to Recommendation GFCM/36/2012/1 (FAO 2012). In Croatian waters, the Smalltooth Sand Tiger Shark is proclaimed as a strictly protected species (Soldo and Lipej 2022), and the species is also protected off Malta (Graham et al. 2016).

The Smalltooth Sandtiger is known to occur in several marine parks across its distribution, including Chagos Marine Protected Area in the central Indian Ocean, Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve off New Zealand, Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary off Colombia, and the Galápagos Marine Reserve (Acuña-Marrero et al. 2013, Long et al. 2014), offering the species some refuge from fishing in these areas.

Further information is required on the distribution, ecology and life history of the Smalltooth Sandtiger, as well as interactions with fisheries across its range. To conserve the species and to facilitate recovery, a suite of measures will be required which may include total protection, spatial management, bycatch mitigation, and harvest and trade management measures (including international trade measures). Effective enforcement of measures will require ongoing training and capacity-building (including in the area of species identification). Catch monitoring is needed to help understand population trends and inform management.