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Sea Sharks Black Dogfish Shark
Black Dogfish Shark
Common Name: Black Dogfish Shark
Scientific Name: Centroscyllium fabricii
Description
The
body of the spiny dogfish is elongate and
slender. The head is pointed. The color is slate gray to brownish
on top, sometimes with white spots, becoming white below.
This species and the horn shark are the only sharks along
the California coast with spines at the beginning of both
dorsal fins. These spines may be mildly poisonous and provide
a defense for the spiny dogfish
Range
Spiny
dogfish occur in temperate and subtropical waters
in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In the eastern Pacific
Ocean they are found off Chile, and from central Baja California
to Alaska and to Japan. This species is common in nearshore
waters along most of the coast. It is generally found in waters
up to 1,200 feet deep though spiny dogfish have been taken
to depths of 2,400 feet.
Natural
History
The
spiny dogfish feeds upon practically all smaller
fishes such as herring, sardines, anchovies, smelts and even
small spiny dogfish as well as crabs. The females are larger
than the males, and produce from 3 to 14 young at a time and
in alternate years. Most adults are 2 to 4 feet long. Spiny
dogfish are long lived and non-migratory; as a result,
heavy fishing pressure in a given area will lower the population
level of this slow growing, low reproductive species quite
rapidly.
Fishing
Information
You
are most likely to catch a spiny dogfish with
anchovies or invertebrates on a rock cod jig. They are commonly
taken in commercial bottom trawl nets.
Other
Common Names
dog
shark, grayfish, Pacific grayfish, spinarola, California dogfish.
Largest
Recored
5.25
feet; no weight recorded; however, a large fat female about
4 feet long will weigh 15 pounds.
Habitat
Shallow
Sandy Environment
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