The small-spotted catshark or lesser spotted dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula, is a cat shark of the family Scyliorhinidae found on the continental shelves and uppermost slopes off Norway and the British Isles south to Senegal, including the Mediterranean and possibly Côte d'Ivoire between latitudes 63° N and 12° N. Its length is up to 1 m (3.3 feet) and it can weigh more than 6.5 lb (2 kg).[1] The small-spotted catshark is a slender, dark-spotted catshark with greatly expanded anterior nasal flaps, reaching the mouth and covering shallow nasoral grooves, and labial furrows on lower jaw only. The second dorsal fin is much smaller than the first. Its depth range is from 10 to 400 m, and from 288 to 780 m in the eastern Ionian Sea. Found on sandy, coralline, algal, gravel or muddy bottoms at depths of a few metres commonly down to 110 m. Sometimes occurs in midwater. It feeds on molluscs and crustaceans, small cephalopods, polychaete worms, and small bony fishes. Utilized fresh and dried-salted for human consumption, also for oil and fishmeal. Reproduction Reproduction is oviparous, with a single egg laid per oviduct at a time. See also * Greater spotted dogfish References
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