Starry smooth-hound
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| Mustelus asterias Cloquet, 1821 |
The starry smooth-hound, Mustelus asterias, is a houndshark of the family Triakidae, found on the continental shelves of the temperate northeast Atlantic from the British Isles and the North Sea to the Canary Islands, including the Mediterranean and Mauritania between latitudes 61° N and 16° N, from the surface to 350 m. Its length is up to 1.4 m.
The starry smooth-hound is a common inshore and offshore shark found on the continental and insular shelves from the intertidal down to at least 100 m. It prefers sandy and gravelly bottoms, and feeds primarily on crustaceans (crabs, hermit crabs, lobsters and slipper lobsters). It is utilized fresh and dried salted.
Reproduction is ovoviviparous, with 7 to 15 pups per litter, and size at birth about 30 cm.
Coloration is uniformly grey or greyish-brown above, white below.
[edit] References
- "Mustelus asterias". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. July 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, Sharks, Collins Gem, HarperCollins, London 2006) ISBN 0-00-721986-5
