Species: Squalus clarkae, Gulf Dogfish, Gulf Dogfish Shark

Squalus clarkae Pfleger, Grubbs, Cotton & Daly-Engel, 2018

Gulf Dogfish, Gulf Dogfish Shark

Body elongate and narrow; head and long snout broadly pointed; eyes without nictitating membrane; moderate sized spiracle just behind eye; anterior nasal flap moderately wide, notched; distance before eyes < distance between eyes; distance from tip of snout to inner corner of nostril about same as distance from inner corner of nostril to groove in top lip; teeth similar in both jaws, small, compressed, blade-like, a single deeply notched tip; 5 gill slits, all before pectorals; a strong spine at front of both dorsal fins, that of 1st dorsal stout and short, origin over pectoral inner margin; first dorsal with short, stout spine, origin over/just behind pectoral base, second dorsal much smaller than first; pectoral broad, free rear tip narrowly rounded, posterior margin slightly concave; upper tail base pit well developed, no lower pit; tail fin without notch under tip; skin denticles on flanks broad, with 3 points and a strong central ridge.

Grey to grey-brown above, light grey to whitish below no white makes on sides; dorsal fin tips dusky; pectoral, pelvic and tail fins with white rear edges; tail rear edge with a dark bar above the notch.

Size: 72 cm.

Habitat: continental shelves and upper slopes, ridges and seamounts; on or near the bottom.

Depth: 242-613 m.

N Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico; Nicaragua and the leeward Islands.