Descripción Anatómica del Esqueleto de Tiburón Mako (Isurus oxyrinchus).

The species Isurus oxyrinchus, also known as Mako Shark of commonly as Shortfin Mako, belongs to the Lamnidae family, of the Condrictis class. The main anatomical feature of this class is a skeleton fully composed of cartilage. Considered to be a vulnerable species according to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), as a result of its extensive use in food industry and hunting sports due to its high speed. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, being found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. In Chile, a variety of this species has a distribution from the North to the Central-South regions of the country (according to industrial fishing data). Specimens are large in size, reaching 3.5 m and around 570 kg of weigh. The aim of this work was to perform a gross anatomy study of a juvenile Mako Shark, obtained by incidental fishing off the coast of Maule, Chile. The description of the skeleton was carried out in a systematic way by segments: skull, spine and fin. A photographic record of the specimen was obtained. According to the results, there is great similarity with what was described for the prickly shark and white shark, except for some shape variations in the skeleton. These differences could be explained by its ability to swim at high speed. The present description allows expanding knowledge of the anatomy of the Mako Shark, generating more information on this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]