Portuguese dogfish

How it lives

It gives birth to live young that are fed by their yolk, and gestation lasts more than a year. FishBase gives litters of 13 to 29 pups, born at 27 to 35 cm. OSPAR gives 8 to 21 pups, with females maturing at about 102 cm and males at about 86 cm. FishBase lists depths of 128 to 3,700 m, usually 400 to 2,000 m, and a very low resilience, with a population doubling time of over 14 years.

Where it goes

It lives on and near the bottom of the deep slope. Wikipedia reports that sexes and sizes separate by depth, with pregnant females in shallower water above about 1,200 to 1,500 m and juveniles deeper. No long-distance migration is described in the sources read.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Global: Near Threatened (IUCN, assessed 2019). In the north-east Atlantic, OSPAR rates its status as Poor, with very uncertain abundance estimates. Since 2010 there has been a zero total allowable catch in the EU, with limited bycatch exceptions, and static nets and gillnets are banned below 600 m. Catches peaked at about 3,284 tonnes in 1996 off the British Isles and have fallen since (Wikipedia).