HAH I FOUND IT!
(Bonnaterre, 1788) is a citation I see in every paper I've read on Hexanchus griseus, but never once is it linked in the end-note references, and on Wikipedia it is much the same.
If you search for "Pierre Bonnaterre 1788" you will likely find his Ichthyology and Ornithology encyclopedias published that year, featuring around 400 species of fish in the former with descriptions and some illustrations.
I wanted to see the very first description of the bluntnose sixgill shark, but no matter how hard I looked, I could not find "H. griseus." I did find an "S. griseus," but that's not right. . . the length measurement in the description also read "2-3 Pieds" which is about 65-98cm. That's the size of a neonate sixgill shark, surely he didn't just describe the species off of one specimen??
Well, he DID! It was the size of a dogfish, so it was given the genus Squamosa. Squamosa griseus. Not even the right order haha. I nailed this down when I translated the very first words of description:
Le Griset 13. S. Griseus S. cute Squamosa. Spiraculis sex utrinque (Six spiracles each; Six pairs of gill slits, in modern speak). Pinna dorsali unica, (A single dorsal fin)!!!!! It was written in Latin.
I need to find a French speaker to translate the description for me. I'm not sure Google translate was entirely correct.
Then again, it probably sounds in French as 18th century English sounds to us. Ye olde dialect.
CITATION: Bonnaterre, P. J. (1788). Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature ...: Icthyologie pg. 9
Boom! Mic drop!
Haha! I can't explain why this brings me such joy
