Shortspine spurdog

It is a group of look-alike dogfish species clustered around Squalus mitsukurii, whose taxonomy has been heavily revised with many new species split off since the early 2000s. Shortspine spurdog specimens often cannot be assigned confidently without detailed examination.

The name refers to its conspicuously short dorsal fin spines compared with other spurdogs in the genus Squalus. Those spines are used defensively and are often described as mildly venomous, a trait shared across the dogfish family Squalidae.

It is a deepwater dogfish found across a wide Indo-Pacific range, typically on continental shelves and upper slopes at depths of several hundred meters. Surveys and deep longline fisheries are often how specimens are collected.

Yes, dogfish in the genus Squalus are taken both as targeted catch and bycatch in trawl and longline fisheries. Their better-known relative Squalus acanthias is the shark commonly used for fish and chips in Britain.