With flabby muscles and a large oily liver, the false catshark is a slow-moving predator and scavenger of a variety of fishes and invertebrates.

While neither targeted by fisheries nor commercially valuable, it is caught incidentally by longlines and bottom trawls, and its low reproductive rate may render it susceptible to population depletion.

The false catshark was first described by Portuguese ichthyologist Félix António de Brito Capelo [pt] in the Jornal do Sciências Mathemáticas, Physicas e Naturaes in 1868.

[2] Brito Capelo thought the specimen resembled a member of the genus Triakis, except lacking a nictitating membrane (though it is now known that this species does in fact have this trait).

However, morphological comparisons have failed to find any consistent differences between P. microdon and P. acrales, leading to the conclusion that there is only one species of false catshark.

This result suggests that the many autapomorphies (unique traits) of the false catshark evolved relatively recently, and supports the grouping of Pseudotriakis and Gollum together in the family Pseudotriakidae.

In the eastern Atlantic, it is known from the waters of Iceland, France, Portugal, and Senegal, as well as the islands of Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, and Cape Verde.

Individuals occasionally wander into relatively shallower waters over the continental shelf, perhaps following submarine canyons or suffering from an abnormal condition.

An enormous oil-filled liver makes up 18–25% of its total weight, allowing it to maintain near-neutral buoyancy and hover off the bottom with little effort.

[5][9] This species likely captures prey via quick bursts of speed, with its large mouth allowing it to consume food of considerable size.

[5][6] It feeds mainly on bony fishes such as cutthroat eels, grenadiers, and snake mackerel, and also takes lanternsharks, squids, octopodes, and Heterocarpus shrimp.

One specimen caught off the Canary Islands had swallowed human garbage, including potatoes, a pear, a plastic bag, and a soft drink can.

During gestation, the developing embryos are initially nourished by yolk, and later transition to feeding on ova or egg fragments ovulated by the mother.