Alistonia vs Tiburón cigarro

Alstonia scholaris compared with Isistius brasiliensis

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Alistonia	Tiburón cigarro
Kingdom	Plantae (planta)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (cordados)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Elasmobranchii
Order	Gentianales (Gentianales)	Squaliformes (Squaliformes)
Family	Apocynaceae	Dalatiidae
Genus	Alstonia	Isistius
Species	Alstonia scholaris	Isistius brasiliensis

Conservation Status

Alistonia

LC — Least Concern

Tiburón cigarro

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Alistonia	Tiburón cigarro
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Alistonia

Habitat

Inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests within the Oceanian biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Micronesia, Taiwan, and United States.

Tiburón cigarro

Habitat

Native to Asia and Europe and South America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Chile, Norway, and Taiwan.

Alistonia

The Blackboard Tree (Alstonia scholaris) is a species in the genus Alstonia. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests within the Oceanian biogeographic realm.

Tiburón cigarro

The cigar shark, also known as the cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis), is a small but remarkable shark in the family Dalatiidae, found throughout warm oceanic waters worldwide in tropical and subtropical latitudes. Reaching only 40–50 centimeters in length, it possesses oversized jaws with large, triangular lower teeth arranged in a saw-like series that cut distinctive circular plugs of flesh from much larger prey—including tuna, dolphins, whales, billfish, and even submarine cables and human bodies. It does not kill its prey but instead latches on, rotates its body, and excises a characteristic cookie-cutter-shaped bite. The cigar shark is bioluminescent, emitting a green glow from photophores on its ventral surface that may serve as counter-illumination or to attract prey from below. It undertakes diel vertical migrations, ascending to shallower waters at night and descending to mesopelagic depths during the day. The species is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, with a vast oceanic distribution and no targeted commercial fishery. It is occasionally taken as bycatch. The geographic epithet brasiliensis refers to Brazil, where early specimens were described, but the species' range is circumglobal in warm oceans. The cookiecutter shark's feeding strategy is one of the most unusual among elasmobranchs.