Frederik H. Mollen- Founder at Elasmobranch Research Belgium (ERB)
Frederik H. Mollen
- Founder at Elasmobranch Research Belgium (ERB)
About
47
Publications
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282
Citations
Introduction
Current institution
Elasmobranch Research Belgium (ERB)
Current position
- Founder
Publications
Publications (47)
Detailed illustrations and descriptions of batoid dental morphology and structure can provide important clues for the identification, taxonomy, and phylogeny of fossil batoids whose fossil remains are often limited to isolated teeth. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of such detailed information in the literature. We identified numerous extant spec...
A new species of hornshark is described from northwestern Australia based on six whole specimens and a single egg case. Heterodontus marshallae n. sp. was previously considered to be conspecific with H. zebra from the Western Pacific. The new species differs from H. zebra in the sequence of its NADH2 gene, several morphological characters, egg case...
Many elasmobranch populations were already depleted well before fishery surveys had even started, which means historical investigations are needed to reveal their ignored declines. This is probably the case for the Bramble shark Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) whose populations in Europe are suspected of having decreased significantly. In or...
Early Eocene batomorph faunas, represented by isolated teeth from the London Clay Formation, LCF (Division D, lower Sheppey Member, lower NP12) at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, UK, and the Tielt Formation (Egemkapel Clay Member) and overlying Hyon Formation (Egem Sand Member, middle to upper NP12) at Egemkapel, western Flanders, Belgium, are described...
Structural blue colors are common in animals, with the tissue nanostructures and material systems that produce them—especially bright blues—typically based on highly ordered nano‐architectures. In this study, we describe an unusually bright and angle‐independent structural blue from the skin of ribbontail stingray, arising from a more disordered ar...
In animals, pigments but also nanostructures determine skin coloration, and many shades are produced by combining both mechanisms. Recently, we discovered a new mechanism for blue coloration in the ribbontail stingray Taeniura lymma, a species with electric blue spots on its yellow-brown skin. Here, we characterize finescale differences in cell com...
In Oceans Past News No. 10 and No. 17 (November 2018 and July 2020), we featured Samuel Iglésias’s and Frederik Mollen’s ongoing Bramble shark Cold Case in our spotlight. Their study in historical ecology was initiated to document the suspected decline of Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) by inventorying all possible records of this little-kno...
Blue structural colors, produced by diverse tissue nanostructures, are known from all major vertebrate clades except cartilaginous fishes (e.g. sharks, rays). We describe a bright angle-independent structural blue from ribbontail stingray skin, arising from a novel cell type with unique quasi-ordered arrays of nano-vesicles enclosing guanine nanopl...
Blue structural colors, produced by diverse tissue nanostructures, are known from all
major vertebrate clades except cartilaginous fishes (e.g. sharks, rays). We describe a
bright angle-independent structural blue from ribbontail stingray skin, arising from a
novel cell type with unique quasi-ordered arrays of nano-vesicles enclosing guanine
nanopl...
Abstract The Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas) faces varying levels of exploitation around the world due to its coastal distribution. Information regarding population connectivity is crucial to evaluate its conservation status and local fishing impacts. In this study, we sampled 922 putative Bull Sharks from 19 locations in the first global assessme...
Understanding the population structure of a species is important to accurately assess its conservation status and manage the risk of local extinction. The Bull Shark ( Carcharhinus leucas ) faces varying levels of exploitation around the world due to its coastal distribution. Information regarding population connectivity is crucial to evaluate its...
![Trends of δ44/42Ca values with size (total length [TL]) and ecology...](publication/363301302/figure/fig2/AS:11431281290287999@1731563937152/Trends-of-d44-42Ca-values-with-size-total-length-TL-and-ecology-among-three-species_Q320.jpg)
![Evolution of Sr/Ca (mMol.Mol⁻¹) with size (total length [TL]) among...](publication/363301302/figure/fig3/AS:11431281290335314@1731563937443/Evolution-of-Sr-Ca-mMolMol-with-size-total-length-TL-among-three-analysed_Q320.jpg)
Sharks occupy all living environments of the marine realm as well as some freshwater systems. They display varied and flexible feeding behaviours, but understanding their diet remains challenging due to their elusive ecology and the invasiveness of stomach content analyses in regard of their threatened status. As a potential alternative, we discuss...
The application of high-resolution X-ray computed tomography permits an appraisal of historically and newly collected specimens of Belosaepia (Belosaepiidae, Coleoidea, Cephalopoda) from the Ypresian (Early Eocene) of Belgium and provides resolution into the taxonomy of stem-group sepiids. The new finds are from the basal beds of the Egemkapel Clay...
Synopsis
From large ventral pleats of humpback whales to nanoscale ridges on flower petals, wrinkled structures are omnipresent, multifunctional, and found at hugely diverse scales. Depending on the particulars of the biological system—its environment, morphology, and mechanical properties—wrinkles may control adhesion, friction, wetting, or drag;...
The past decade has seen a considerable rise in international concern regarding the conservation status of sharks and rays. The demand for highly prized shark commodities continues to fuel the international trade and gives fisheries incentive to use these resources, which have a low intrinsic capability to recover. Recognising the urgency for regul...
Here we report on four highly peculiar skate teeth from Arcille and Certaldo, two Pliocene localities of Tuscany (central Italy). While being attributable to Rajiformes and somewhat reminiscent of Dipturus and Rostroraja, these specimens display an unusual multicuspid tooth design that does not match any extinct or extant skate taxon known to date....
Cover figure: The new skate Nebriimimus wardi, lateroposterior tooth in different views, from the lower Pliocene of Tuscany, central Italy (see article by Alberto Collareta et al.)
A 5.50 m thick interval of fossiliferous intensely bioturbated heterogenous glauconiferous sand of the upper Miocene Diest Formation is documented from a very large temporary outcrop just southeast of Antwerp International Airport (northern Belgium), allowing to observe lateral variations over several hundreds of meters and to collect many vertebra...
Among extant rays (Elasmobranchii: Batomorphii), those assigned to the order Rajiformes are known as ‘skates’ and number some 290 species. The fossil record of Rajiformes is scant, and the low number of diagnosable extinct rajiform species contrasts with the high alpha-diversity of the recent stock. Here we report on four unusual skate teeth from t...
In Oceans Past News No.10 (November 2018), we featured Samuel Iglésias's and Frederik Mollen's ongoing research on the Bramble shark (Echinorhinus brucus) in our spotlight. Their 'coldcase' illustrated that the disappearance of large and charismatic species, such as the Bramble shark, may go totally unnoticed and even unsuspected from datasets of m...
The tale of the Bramble shark description, Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (Echinorhinidae) and the rediscovery of the drawings of the lost type.
The Bramble shark, Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) was first described by Broussonet in 1780 based on a type that has been lost and its unpublished illustration. In his description of the sp...
Despite today's controversy regarding several aspects of his legacy, Swiss-born Harvard Professor Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was one of the most eminent scientists of his time. After his death, Washington-based photographer and amateur naturalist, Henry Ulke (1821-1910), honored his 'esteemed friend' which is clear from his personal letter of condol...
2010 was het Internationaal Jaar van de Biodiversiteit. Dat jaar genoot het veelvormige leven op onze planeet bijzondere aandacht. Het was de start van het Decennium van de Biodiversiteit. Nieuwe akkoorden werden gesmeed, doelstellingen vooropgesteld en strategieën uitgerold. We zijn nu tien jaar later. Tijd voor een nieuwe balans. Natuur.focus bes...
Sharks assigned to the carcharhiniform family Scyliorhinidae account for about 160 extant species placed in 18 genera. Most living scyliorhinids are small- to medium-sized ground sharks provided with cat- like eyes and nasal barbels similar to whiskers; hence their vernacular name, “catsharks”. Living catsharks mostly inhabit deep or rather deep wa...
Palaeoichthyologist G. Guinot and colleagues (Guinot et al., 2018) are correct to request that new species descriptions of extant sharks, skates and rays include information on tooth morphology. But, even if their request is heeded, it will not address the broader issue associated with taxa that have been poorly described or incompletely illustrate...
An articulated skeleton of a palaeospinacid shark from the Saint-Pô Formation (Albian, upper Lower Cretaceous) of the Boulonnais (northern France) is described and illustrated for the first time, inclusive of tooth vascularisation and histology. The specimen comprises portions of the neurocanium, splanchnocranium, pectoral girdle, vertebrae, numero...
In our October Spotlight, Samuel P. Iglésias and Frederik H. Mollen discuss their work unraveling the “cold case” of the Bramble Shark, and how their historical detective work revealed a species considered rare today was not only common in the past, but had a life history and habits unknown to current scientists.
Emily S. Klein
This booklet was published on the occasion of the shark exhibition at the Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht (The Netherlands) from June 2016 to March 2017.
A detailed redescription of a chondrocranium from the basal Boom Clay Formation (Rupelian, Upper Oligocene) at the SVK clay pit, Sint-Niklaas (province of Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium), previously assigned to the sawshark Pristiophorus rupeliensis, is presented. The chondrocranium is re-identified as that of an angel shark (Squatinidae), based on compa...
Patchwork of freshwater stingrays species (Potamotrygon spp.) with enlargement of jaws illustrating the extreme dental variation of these south american freshwater predators. Photo credits: Frederik Mollen (Belgium) and Frank Schäfer (Germany).
A comparative study of rostral morphology of extant mackerel sharks (Lamniformes, Lamnidae) is presented. Based on computed tomography (CT) scans of fresh specimens, 3D reconstructions, dried museum chondrocrania and the available literature, detailed morphological descriptions of the rostral cartilages are provided for the type species of all thre...
Shark rostral nodes from the Yorktown Formation (Zanclean, early Pliocene) of Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina (USA), previously assigned to the genus Lamna Cuvier, 1816, have been reinterpreted using a preliminary identification key for extant Lamniformes based on rostral morphology. In addition, the fossil rostral nodes have been compared in detail...
From small phosphatic nodules in sandy deposits of Neogene age, previously excavated at Emblem (northwest Belgium) and currently suction dredged at Langenboom (southeast Netherlands), several chelipeds as well as fragments of carapace and abdomen of an axiid shrimp have been collected. These remains are here described as a new genus and species, wh...
A fragmentary rostrum of a lamnid shark is recorded from the upper Miocene Breda Formation at Liessel (Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands); it constitutes the first elasmobranch rostral process to be described from Neogene strata in the North Sea Basin. Based on key features of extant lamniform rostra and CT scans of chondrocrania of modern Lamnidae, t...
Cover illustration: Comparison of recent and fossil specimens of "Lamna nasus" (after Mollen, this volume).
Age and growth of the basking shark Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus) was examined using vertebral samples from 13 females (261 to 856 cm total length [TL]), 16 males (311 to 840 cm TL) and 11 specimens of unknown sex (376 to 853 cm TL). Vertebral samples were obtained worldwide from museums and institutional and private collections. Examination of mul...
Isolated teeth, collected from strata assigned to the Brussel Sand Formation (Lutetian, Eocene) at the Imbrechts sand pit (Nederokkerzeel, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium), form the basis for erecting a new species of scyliorhinid shark, Premontreia (Premontreia) lutetiensis. Affinities and heterodonty are discussed.
On the basis of isolated teeth, collected from the base of the Boom Clay Formation (Rupelian, Oligocene)
at the SVK clay pit (Sint-Niklaas, NW Belgium), a new species of requiem shark, Abdounia belselensis sp. nov., is described. Affinities and heterodonty are discussed.
Although basking sharks are protected according to the European fisheries legislation, both in 2006 and 2007 a basking shark was landed at Belgian fishing ports (respectively at Ostend and Zeebrugge). While the animal that was landed in 2006 (7 meters long, 1.160 kg) was sold before fisheries inspectors could intervene, the animal that was landed i...
Vertebral samples of 10 females (260.6-686 cm total length (TL)), 15 males (311-840 cm TL) and 9 unknown sex (375.9-853.4 cm TL) C. maximus were sourced through museums and institutional and private collections. A total of 101 vertebrae, including 58 vertebrae from a 260.6 cm TL animal, were used. In addition, different size vertebrae from a furthe...
Questions
Questions (2)
On December 14, 1873, Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, one of world’s most eminent geologists and zoologists of his time, died at age 66 in his Cambridge home (USA). Today, 150 years later, Agassiz’s legacy is still very much alive. His study of fossil fishes remains the most important keystone in today’s palaeoichthyology. And in times of global warming, Agassiz reminds us how vast the Swiss glaciers used to look a century and a half ago, saving us from shifting baselines. But, Agassiz should also be remembered as the tutor, employer, and scientist who exploited his students, employees, and colleagues. Above all, Agassiz’s legacy is tainted by his contributions to scientific racism. Should this prevent us from studying and publishing on the life and legacy of Agassiz? Or should we put things in the right perspective: naming all issues, the good, the bad, and keep his spirit alive?
Hi,
I'm looking for the Proceedings (or book of abstracts) of the 3rd Indo-Pacific Fish Conference (1989) that was held in Wellington, New Zealand, but I cannot find them.
Have these been published, or not? Any ideas?
Any help is much appreciated,
Frederik
