Short-nose Spurdog

About the Short-nose Spurdog

The short-nose spurdog is a species of dogfish found in temperate and tropical waters around in world. It’s most common off the coast of western and southern Africa, as well as southern Australia and South East Asia. They are found at depths of up to 732m and their diet consists of bony fishes, crustaceans, molluscs and cephalopods.

They’re ovoviviparous and their litter sizes range from 1 to 6 pups. The gestation period is thought to be around two years and pups are 23-25cm at birth. Males mature at between 34cm and 51cm and females mature between 37cm and 62cm. The maximum total length for this species is 77cm.

Due to their abundance they are heavily fished in certain areas by trawling fisheries and with mesh nets. In Australia they are sold for human consumption but their small size does offer them a certain level of protection from larger gillnets. There isn’t currently enough information to assess their population health. Their conservation status is “Data Deficient.”

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