Sharptooth Smooth-hound

About the Sharptooth Smooth-hound

The Sharptooth smoothhound is a houndshark species found in tropical waters between Southern Mexico and Peru. They inhabit continental shelves and subsist predominantly on a diet of shrimp.

Reproduction is viviparous, meaning live birth, and they usually produce litters of four. The pups are 21-23cm (8.3 – 9.1 in) at birth and both male and females become mature at around 43cm (16.9 in). The maximum total length for this species is 64cm (25.2 in).

 Identification among the Mustelus or ‘tollo’ complex of the Eastern Pacific is problematic and little species-specific information is available; information on catches and population trends are therefore inferred from the broad species-group. The Sharptooth Smoothhound is the rarer of the local smoothhounds. Its small size and knowledge of the biology of other small smoothhound species suggests that it is a fast-growing species, with low longevity and early age-at-maturity, giving it some resilience to exploitation. Smoothhounds in the tropical Eastern Pacific face considerable fishing pressure over much of their range and are captured in small-scale and large-scale gillnet, longline, and trawl fisheries and are marketed for their meat. In some areas fishing effort is increasing, and most fisheries are unregulated or poorly-regulated. In Colombia and Ecuador, tollo is landed in very large quantities and overall landings have shown a decline in the last decade. Short-term data (2007–2013) also show a declining trend for smoothhounds in Costa Rica. Overall, given the intensity of fishing pressure throughout its range and high catch levels of smoothhounds, balanced with high biological productivity, it is suspected that the Sharptooth Smoothhound has undergone a population reduction of 30–49% over the last three generation lengths (18 years) due to levels of exploitation, and it is assessed as Vulnerable A2d.

Listed on CITES Appendix II  at CoP20 in December 2025, coming into effect in 2027, meaning international trade is regulated and monitored. 

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