Smooth-hound

• reproducciónLike many other sharks, it bears fully formed live young rather than laying eggs, a mode of reproduction called viviparity.
• It has no cutting teeth: its dentition is a pavement of blunt, flattened plates with which it crushes crabs and other crustaceans, very different from that of any predatory shark.
• It was one of the commonest sharks off the Spanish coast and is now listed as endangered: catches in the Mediterranean have fallen by more than ninety per cent in a few decades.
• It is viviparous with a true placenta: the embryos connect to the mother through a structure analogous to the mammalian placenta, a trait that is uncommon among fish.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - cartilaginous skeleton (fish)

Habitat and environment

Coastal sandy and muddy bottoms of the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, down to 350 metres

Birth weight

30 - 40 cm at birth

Size at birth

30-40 cm at birth; it is placental viviparous

Sexual maturity

13.5 years

Gestation / incubation

11 months of gestation

Litter / clutch size

11.5 (average)

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Mustelus mustelus

Best time: From spring to autumn on sandy and muddy bottoms of the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, always close to the seabed.