White-margin Fin Houndshark

About the White-margin Fin Houndshark

The white-margin fin houndshark is a recently described shark found in the Gulf of California and possibly in the eastern Pacific at depths of 30 to 281 m (98–922 ft).

Biology and Behaviour

They are a slender species with a dark grey-brown colouring. They grow up 120 cm long and are more active at night to hunt for their prey.   

Reproduction and Lifespan

White-margin fin houndsharks are viviparous, meaning a live birth, and can have a litter size between three to 23 young. Pups are born between 30 to 35 cm long. Females mature around 94 to 98 cm/3.08–3.22 ft long while males mature around 90 to 99 cm/2.95–3.25 ft long. Male white-margin fin houndsharks grow up to 109 cm/3.58 ft in length while females grow a little longer at around 118 cm/3.87 ft long.

Conservation and Tourism

This houndshark is captured as retained bycatch in demersal trawl fisheries, particularly in the Gulf of California hake fishery. Artisanal fisheries generally do not catch it due to its depth range, and the hake fishery only operates in a small portion of its range in the northern Gulf of California. Trawl fisheries elsewhere operate at shallower depths and only fish the upper portion of this species’ depth range. While it is possible that some localised declines have occurred in areas overlapping with fishing activities, the Whitemargin Fin Smoothhound is not suspected to be close to reaching the population reduction threshold, and it is assessed as Least Concern.

There are no species-specific protection or conservation measures in place for this shark. In the Mexican Pacific, there is a closed season for targeted elasmobranch fishing from May 1st to July 31st, but enforcement is inadequate (O. Sosa-Nishizaki unpubl. data 2019). Further research is needed on population size and trends.

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White-margin Fin Houndshark Gallery