144 Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 



Figure 54 



Family Squalidae, Spiny Dog Fishes. 



Genus Etmopterus, Black Dog Fishes. The dorsal fin spines are 

 at the points of origin of the fins and lie along the front margins 

 of the latter; the upper teeth have several cusps and differ widely 

 in shape from the lowers which have one cusp only. 



Figure 54. Etmopterus hillianus, Black-Bellied Dog Fish. 



Description: This little Dog Fish differs very obviously from the 

 Common and Cuban Spiny Dog Fishes, in the facts that the lower 

 edge of the upper lobe of its caudal is noticeably notched near 

 its tip, that its lower caudal lobe is only weakly defined, that its 

 second dorsal fin is considerably larger than its first dorsal, that its 

 pectoral is brush-shaped, that its eye is relatively much larger, as 

 well as that each of its upper teeth has from 3 to 7 sharp pointed 

 cusps, and that its color is different. 



Color: Dark gray or chocolate brown above (palest along the 

 mid-line of the back) ; black below, with black dots scattered on 

 the top of the head and along the back ; and two to four lines of 

 short narrow black dashes on the sides. 



Size: Born at about 2 to 3 inches, it matures at about 9 to 12 

 inches in length. This is one of the smallest of sharks. 



Habits: A deepwater species, living chiefly at 200 to 300 fathoms. 

 Nothing else is known of its habits. It may be luminous, but 

 whether or not this is the case is not definitely known. 



Range: So far known positively only from Cuban waters where 

 it is taken quite often on hook and line in deep water, from near 

 St. Kitts, from the Tortugas, Florida, and probably also from 

 Bermuda. 



