Common smooth-hound

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Common smooth-hound

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Triakidae
Genus: Mustelus
Species: M. mustelus
Binomial name
Mustelus mustelus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The common smooth-hound, Mustelus mustelus, is a houndshark of the family Triakidae, found on the continental shelves of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, off the British Isles and France to South Africa, including the Mediterranean Sea, Madeira and the Canary Islands, at depths of between 5 and 625 m. Its length is up to 2 m.

The common smooth-hound is a large, plain or black-spotted smoothhound found from the intertidal region to at least 350 m depth. It is sometimes in midwater but prefers to swim near the bottom, and feeds mainly on crustaceans, but also cephalopods and bony fishes. They are caught by shore and ski-boat anglers, and utilized for human consumption, oil, and fishmeal.

Reproduction is viviparous, with a yolk-sac placenta.

Coloration is uniformly grey or greyish-brown above, white below.

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