Endeavour Dogfish

Shark Database | Dog and Angelfish Sharks - Squaliformes | Endeavour Dogfish

About the Endeavour Dogfish

Endeavour Dogfish, also called the small-fin gulper shark, is a deepwater shark from the Indo-West Pacific region, found in eastern and western Australia, New Caledonia, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan and southern Africa.

The species is found at a depth range of 125 to 820 m/410 to 2,690 ft. Its diet consists mostly of crustaceans and other fishes. The maximum size it grows up to is 2100 cm/68 ft 11 in with females maturing at 85 cm/2 ft 9.5 in and males at 70 cm/2 ft 4 in. The size of the pups at birth are 34 cm/1 ft 1 in.

Despite having high longevity, they have a late age at maturity and very low rate of reproduction (one or two pups every two years), which makes them extremely vulnerable to rapid population depletion by commercial fishing. Ovoviviparous, meaning the embryos develop inside eggs that hatch inside the mother’s body, and the young are born live.

The eastern Australian population has been severely depleted and parts of its range are still continually fished. Recent surveys have recorded relatively high catch rates, although deepwater fishing off New South Wales and Queensland is very low.

Classified as Vulnerable (VU), with concerns driven mainly by deep-sea fisheries, especially shark liver oil fisheries. It is one of the species affected by demand for squalene, a compound extracted from shark livers and historically used in:

cosmetics,
pharmaceuticals,
industrial products.

Recent research has highlighted that deep-sea sharks are disproportionately vulnerable because their livers are extremely large and oil-rich.

A 2024 review of deep-water sharks identified 53 species used for liver oil, including several gulper sharks (Centrophorus species). The study found that many of these sharks are among the most threatened groups of sharks globally.

Several regions have strengthened controls on deep-water shark fisheries.

Examples include: