black dogfish
centroscyllium fabricii latin

The black dogfish is harmless to humans and of little commercial value.

Potential predators of the black dogfish are larger sharks and bony fishes.

Reproduction in the black dogfish occurs year-round, with no well-defined seasonal pattern.

The black dogfish occurs mostly too deep for fisheries off southern Africa; in the remainder of its range, little information is available on fishery impact.

This movement pattern has not been observed in black dogfish inhabiting adjacent waters off western Greenland.

Apparently opportunistic in feeding habits, the black dogfish typically hunts in open water, but also scavenges off the bottom.

The black dogfish (Centroscyllium fabricii) is a species of dogfish shark in the family Etmopteridae.

Centroscyllium fabricii (black dogfish)

Active and schooling, the black dogfish is an opportunistic predator and scavenger that mainly consumes bony fishes, crustaceans, and cephalopods.

The black dogfish contributes significantly to the bycatch of deep-sea commercial fisheries operating in the North Atlantic; it is of little commercial value and is usually discarded.

According to the IUCN, further taxonomic investigation is required to confirm the black dogfish in the North Atlantic and the southeastern Atlantic represent the same species.

The reproductive characteristics of the black dogfish, such as a large female maturation size, may render it susceptible to overfishing, though it is more fecund than other deep-sea dogfish sharks.

The first known specimen of the black dogfish was collected near Julianehåb in Greenland and described by Danish zoologist Johannes Reinhardt in his 1825 Ichthyologiske bidrag.

The black dogfish is a common species, with a wide but discontinuous distribution in the temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean; its range abuts, but does not extend into, the Arctic Ocean.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the black dogfish under Least Concern worldwide; it is minimally affected by fishing activity across many parts of its range, while its population in the northwestern Atlantic presently seems to be stable and may have increased from 1978 to 1995.