142 Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 



Figure 53 



Family Squalidae, Spiny Dog Fishes. 



Figure 53. Squalus cubensis, Cuban Spiny Dog Fish. 



Description: Trunk slender; snout broad-oval; eye oval and 

 noticeably large, its horizontal diameter about 1/2 as long as the 

 snout (in front of the mouth) ; longest gill opening about 1/2 as 

 long as the horizontal breadth of the eye ; mouth traverse and 

 only very slightly arched; teeth, 13 on each side in each jaw, the 

 uppers and lowers alike, smooth-edged, with a single sharp cusp, 

 the outer margins deeply notched and so oblique that the inner 

 margins form a nearly continuous cutting edge from one corner 

 of the mouth to the other. Point of origin of the first dorsal (or 

 first dorsal spine) a little in front of the mid-point of the inner 

 margin of the pectoral when the latter is laid back; second dorsal 

 about 4/5 as long and as high as the first dorsal ; the rear-lower 

 edge of the upper lobe of the caudal is not notched near its tip; 

 the lower lobe is between 1/2 and 2/3 as long as the upper; the 

 distal margin of the pectoral is deeply and evenly concave and 

 its inner corner angular (the shape of this fin is the most distinc- 

 tive feature of this species). 



Color: Dark gray above and paler gray below without white 

 spots ; the tips of the dorsals are black ; the caudal, pelvics, and 

 pectorals are edged with white. 



Size: Matures at a length of about 20 inches. 



Habits: Nothing is known of its habits except that it is a deep 

 water species, caught at depths of 75 fathoms or more. 



Range: General throughout the Caribbean, though so far known 

 positively only from the north coast of Cuba, where it is caught 

 commonly, and from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 



