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Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnaeus, 1758)

Lesser spotted dogfish
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Scyliorhinus canicula   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Scyliorhinus canicula
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France country information

Common names: Cata roussa, Catarouquiera, Catarousse
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: common (usually seen) | Ref: Capapé, C., Y. Vergne, C. Reynauld, O. Guélorget and J.-P. Quignard, 2008
Importance: commercial | Ref: Capapé, C., Y. Vergne, C. Reynauld, O. Guélorget and J.-P. Quignard, 2008
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Most abundant elasmobranch species in the Languedocian coast that is targeted for food (Ref. 81056). Recorded from the east coast of Corsica Island (Ref. 95770). Also Ref. 244, 95770.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/fr.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Capapé, C., Y. Vergne, C. Reynauld, O. Guélorget and J.-P. Quignard, 2008
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks) > Scyliorhinidae (Cat sharks) > Scyliorhininae
Etymology: Scyliorhinus: skylion, Greek for dogfish or small shark; rhinus, from rhine (Gr.), rasp, alluding to a shark’s jagged, rasp-like skin. (See ETYFish);  canicula: Diminutive of canis (L.), dog; sharks were known as “sea dogs” and “dog-fishe” among mariners until the late 16th century, because of their ferocious pack-like feeding behavior. (See ETYFish).
  More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 10 - 780 m (Ref. 56504), usually 80 - 100 m (Ref. 81056).   Subtropical; 63°N - 3°N, 32°W - 37°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North Sea (sw coast of Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark), Northeastern Atlantic Ocean (Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Portugal); Mediterranean Sea (Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco); nw Africa, close to the Strait of Gibraltar and to the north of Mauritania (20º30’N); including Norwegian Sea.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 50.0, range 35 - 64 cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 244); common length : 60.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4645); max. published weight: 3.7 kg (Ref. 128278); max. reported age: 12 years (Ref. 81067)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

This species is distinguished from all its congeners by the following characters: shallow nasoral grooves and laterally situated posterior nasal flaps (vs. no grooves and posterior flaps on the posterior border of the excurrent apertures in congeners, except in S. duhamelii); distance between the anterior nasal flaps 6-7.5 times smaller than the anterior nasal flap width (vs. 3.5-5 times smaller in S. duhamelii; two times in the other species); lower labial furrow 2.1-2.2 times smaller than mouth width (vs. more than 3 times in other species, except S. duhamelii). Colouration: color pattern with dark spots well-defined, predominantly smaller than spiracles (vs. no dark spots in S. capensis, S. comoroensis, S. hesperius, S. meadi, S. torazame, S. torrei; reticulated pattern in S. rotifer; dark spots predominantly larger than spiracles in S. cervigoni, S. garmani, S. haeckelii, S. stellaris; diffuse spots in S. duhamelii); clasper with rough terminal dermal cover (also found only in S. capensis) (Ref. 120402).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Most common catshark in coastal waters of Europe (Ref. 32804). Inhabits continental shelves and uppermost slopes. Found on sandy, coralline, algal, gravel or muddy bottoms. Occurs mainly between 10-100 m depth in the northeast Atlantic and up to 400 m depth in the Mediterranean Sea (Ref. 88187) and from 288-780 m in the eastern Ionian Sea (Ref. 56504). They sometimes occur in midwater. Nocturnal species, males resting on substrate and females hiding in shallow (0.5-1.5 m depth) caves and crevices during the day (Ref. 88835). Feed on a variety of benthic invertebrates, including mollusks, crustaceans, small cephalopods, polychaete worms, and small bony fishes (Ref. 244, 11889). Males have been found to forage in shallow prey-rich areas with soft sediment or areas covered with filamentous algae (Ref. 88836). Oviparous, with a single egg laid per oviduct at a time. Detect weak electric fields generated by other organisms (e.g. potential prey) (Ref. 10311). Utilized fresh and dried-salted for human consumption, also for oil and fishmeal.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Oviparous, laying paired eggs (one per oviduct) in shallow subtidal areas, although some egg cases have been found in the deeper part of intertidal zones (Ref. 244). Embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449). The egg cases are anchored to macroalgae, sea grass or sessile erect invertebrates such as poriferans, bryozoans and hydroids (Ref. 32804, 58137). The capsules have tendrils at each corner used for anchorage purposes. Egg capsule size varies according to locality and female size (Ref. 244) and ranges between 4.9-7.0 cm length and 1.5-3.0 cm width (Ref. 88837). Egg cases may be deposited throughout the year, peaking in June and July (Ref. 32804). Recent studies estimate fecundity of females from the northeast Atlantic to be at around 29-62 pups (Ref. 32804). Fully formed pups hatch after 5-11 months, depending on water temperature (Ref. 244, 32804). Newly hatched pups are about 8-10 cm in length (Ref. 78469).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Compagno, Leonard J.V. | Collaborators

Soares, K.D.A. and M.R. De Carvalho, 2019. The catshark genus Scyliorhinus (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae): taxonomy, morphology and distribution. Zootaxa 4601(1):1-147. (Ref. 120402)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 31 August 2020

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial
FAO(Fisheries: production; publication : search) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 7.2 - 16.2, mean 10.1 (based on 28 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00148 (0.00126 - 0.00174), b=3.20 (3.15 - 3.25), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.8   ±0.3 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.20; tm=9; Fec=96).
Prior r = 0.35, 95% CL = 0.23 - 0.53, Based on 1 full stock assessment.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (59 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (53 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.