How to See a Spiny Dogfish Shark
The most common shark extant, spiny dogfish sharks serve many purposes. They provide lab specimens, food, hides, fertilizer, liver oil and even pet food. In Europe, people think of these sharks as delicacies. You can observe a spiny dogfish shark, also known as piked dogfish, spotted dogfish, white-spotted dogfish, skittledog, thorndog or codshark.
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Instructions
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Locate the spiny dogfish shark in subarctic and temperate waters worldwide, between 45 and 60 degrees F. They swim from the surface to 2,400-feet deep, but spend most of their time as bottom-dwellers.
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Find them along the eastern U.S. coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and Nova Scotia. They migrate south from Canadian waters in the winter. They also inhabit cool to temperate coastal waters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Black and Mediterranean Seas.
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Identify the adult spiny dogfish as 3- to 4-feet long, with a brownish to deep gray top, off-white to pale gray belly and irregular white spots on its top and sides.
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Notice the spiny dogfish shark's slender body, flattened head, short, blunt snout and large eyes. It has two dorsal fins, with the second one smaller than the first and a slightly poisonous sharp spine in front of each. Its other distinguishing characteristics include pectoral fins with curved rear margins, no anal fin and an asymmetrical caudal fin with the upper part larger than the lower.
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Note that, like the smooth dogfish shark, the spiny dogfish possesses two rows of smooth grinding teeth. However, the spiny is distinguished by its additional row of smaller, sharp teeth, which rotate into place when needed.
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Spot spiny dogfish sharks traveling in large schools, often segregated by sex, size and age. Extremely social, these sharks also hunt and migrate in large packs. You may see hundred or even thousands of these sharks traveling together.
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Recognize their feeding habits. Spiny dogfish prefer smaller commercial fish, such as cod, haddock, herring, ratfish and capelin. Their diet also includes squid, octopus, other sharks, crabs, krill, jellyfish and other invertebrates.
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Tips & Warnings
Generally considered harmless, the spiny dogfish shark's sharp teeth and spiny dorsal fins can cause minor injury.
For the past century, people harvested spiny dogfish sharks for their abundant liver oil, used for machine lubricant, lamp oil and as a vitamin A source.
