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Portuguese Dogfish
Centroscymnus coelolepis Bocage & Capello, 1864
Above and below: A 1 m long Portuguese Dogfish trawled during the NORFANZ expedition at a depth of approximately 1400 m in international waters south of Norfolk Island, May 2003 (CSIRO H6059-09). Photo: R. McPhee © NORFANZ. View larger image.
The Portuguese Dogfish is a uniform golden to black colour. It has a stout body with large, smooth denticles (more information on shark scales). There are two small, equal-sized dorsal fins that are each preceded by a small spine. The upper jaw teeth are dagger-like, but those in the lower jaw are slanted and blade-like.
This species is born at 30 cm in length and grow to 1.2 m.
It is found in continental slope and abyssal plain waters in depths from 270 m to 3700 m, although in Australia individuals have been caught in depths from 770 m to 1400 m.
This species occurs in the eastern and north-western Atlantic, and from Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
In Australia it has been trawled from off New South Wales and Tasmania.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Compagno, L.J.V. 1984. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 4, Sharks of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 1 - Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes: viii, 1-250.
- Last, P.R. & J.D. Stevens. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. CSIRO. Pp. 513.
