Cuban dogfish
Encyclopedia
The Cuban dogfish is a dogfish
, a member of the family
Squalidae
in the order Squaliformes
. It is found in the Western Atlantic from North Carolina to Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, around Cuba, Hispaniola, southern Brazil and Argentina. It inhabits continental shelves and uppermost slopes at depths from 60 to 380 m. Its length is up to 110 cm.
It is a slim, gray shark with black tips to its dorsal fins black and at the edges of its pectoral fins, its pelvic and caudal fins are white; It possess a spine at front edge of each of its two dorsal fans.
It probably feeds on bottom fishes and invertebrates. The isopod parasites which commonly infest the mouth and gills of marine fish are unusually large in the Cuban dogfish. Its reproduction is ovoviviparous, with 10 pups in a litter.
It is not generally utilized for food, but taken commercially for the oil and vitamins extracted from its liver.
Squaliformes
Squaliformes is an order of sharks that includes about 97 species in seven families.Members of the order have two dorsal fins, which usually possess spines, no anal fin or nictitating membrane, and five gill slits. In most other respects, however, they are quite variable in form and size...
, a member of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Squalidae
Squalidae
Squalidae is the family of dogfish sharks. They are found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, from tropical equatorial climates to the Arctic and Antarctic....
in the order Squaliformes
Squaliformes
Squaliformes is an order of sharks that includes about 97 species in seven families.Members of the order have two dorsal fins, which usually possess spines, no anal fin or nictitating membrane, and five gill slits. In most other respects, however, they are quite variable in form and size...
. It is found in the Western Atlantic from North Carolina to Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, around Cuba, Hispaniola, southern Brazil and Argentina. It inhabits continental shelves and uppermost slopes at depths from 60 to 380 m. Its length is up to 110 cm.
It is a slim, gray shark with black tips to its dorsal fins black and at the edges of its pectoral fins, its pelvic and caudal fins are white; It possess a spine at front edge of each of its two dorsal fans.
It probably feeds on bottom fishes and invertebrates. The isopod parasites which commonly infest the mouth and gills of marine fish are unusually large in the Cuban dogfish. Its reproduction is ovoviviparous, with 10 pups in a litter.
It is not generally utilized for food, but taken commercially for the oil and vitamins extracted from its liver.