Species: Squalus clarkae, Gulf dogfish shark, Shortspine dogfish, Shortspine spurdog shark

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

Gulf dogfish

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.