Dogfish Spiny (lat. Squalus acanthias)
OTHER NAMES:
dogfish, dog shark, grayfish, Pacific grayfish, Pacific dogfish, spinarola, California dogfish, blue dog, common spiny fish, spiny dogfish, picked fish, spiky dog, spotted spiny, spurdog,
white-spotted dogfish, Victorian spotted dogfish; French: aiguillat; Italian: spinarolo;
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, and fading
to white below. It has spines at the beginning of both dorsal
fins; these spines are mildly poisonous and provide a
defense for the spiny dogfish.dogfish, dog shark, grayfish, Pacific grayfish, Pacific dogfish, spinarola, California dogfish, blue dog, common spiny fish, spiny dogfish, picked fish, spiky dog, spotted spiny, spurdog,
white-spotted dogfish, Victorian spotted dogfish; French: aiguillat; Italian: spinarolo;
Spiny dogfish are common at 2 to 3 feet in length; the maximum size is about 63 inches and 20 pounds. In California waters, a large fat female will be roughly 4 feet long and will weigh 15 pounds. In the northwestern Atlantic, maximum ages reported for males and females are 35 and 40 years, respectively.
Spiny dogfish tend to school by size and, for large mature individuals, by sex. Females are larger than males and produce from 3 to 14 young at a time in alternate years. The species bears live young and has a gestation period of about 18 to 22 months. Spiny dogfish are long lived and nonmigratory; heavy commercial fishing pressure in a given area will rapidly lower populations of this slowgrowing, low-reproductive species.
The spiny dogfish is voracious and feeds on practically all smaller fish, including herring, sardines, anchovies, smelt, and even small spiny dogfish and crabs. They have been known to attack schools of herring and mackerel, as well as concentrations of haddock, cod, sand lance, and other species.
Spiny dogfish occur in temperate and subtropical waters. In the western Atlantic, they range from Greenland to Argentina; in the eastern Pacific, they range from the Bering Sea to Chile.
This species is common in nearshore waters along some coasts and may be found in
enclosed bays and estuaries; it generally inhabits deep waters and typically favors the bottom. In temperate waters during the spring and the fall, spiny dogfish can range into coastal waters, heading more northerly in the summer. In the winter, they are distributed primarily in deeper
waters along the edge of the continental shelf.