Small-Spotted Catshark
Scyliorhinus canicula
As we start 2025, I have considered all the shark species I hope to see this year. I live in the UK, and one of the species I am most excited to see here is the small-spotted catshark - which, in my opinion, is the cutest shark in the world!
Key Features & Appearance
The small-spotted catshark is a small species of shark, reaching up to one metre. It is a member of the catshark family, and has cat-like, elongated eyes. Like other catsharks, it has a long, slender body shape, with rounded pectoral fins and two dorsal fins that sit far back on the body. It has dark brown spots all over its greyish-brown body, with a light grey underside and it is from this pattern that it gets its name; though in the UK, this species is also sometimes known as the lesser-spotted dogfish.
Habitat & Distribution
It is found close to the seafloor, from shallow waters down to depths of 400m, inhabiting the continental shelves off the coasts of the British Isles and Norway, down to Senegal, and in the Mediterranean. In the UK, it can be found very close to shore and is common, meaning you can easily spot one on a casual snorkel off the beach!
Diet
It is an opportunistic predator that feeds on a wide variety of prey, particularly benthic species such as fish, crustaceans, and molluscs.
Reproduction
It is oviparous, meaning that females lay egg cases which the babies grow inside and then hatch from. These egg cases are made of keratin (the same material that your hair and nails are made from!) and are about 4-7cm long, with curly tendrils at the end. The female lays these on seaweed in shallow waters, and the tendrils help the eggs attach to the seaweed, keeping them safe whilst the baby shark develops inside. Eggs are laid almost all year round but with some seasonal patterning. In the UK, the season is about 10 months long with a peak in June and July.
After the baby sharks hatch, the empty egg cases often then get washed up onto shores. So, a fun activity to do in the UK is to go beachcombing for small-spotted catshark egg cases; these are a very common find, particularly after a storm! And if you don’t live in the UK, you can do the same for the egg cases of different shark species that live in your waters, as around 43% of sharks and rays reproduce by laying egg cases!
Threats
Although it is a very abundant shark species, it faces some threats. In the UK, small-spotted catsharks are often caught as bycatch by fisheries, particularly by trawlers due to their demersal habitat. They have also been found to be susceptible to plastic pollution and are commonly found washed up on beaches after storms. In other parts of their range, they are affected by targeted fishing for their meat, as well as by bycatch, which has led to localised population declines. They are also impacted by coastal habitat degradation as well as heat waves.
Status
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists this species as “Least Concern”.
Fun Fact
A study in the UK found that individual small-spotted catsharks have different personality traits, with some being more exploratory, sociable, or aggressive!
Works Cited
• Ellis, J.R. and Shackley, S.E. (1997) ‘The reproductive biology of scyliorhinus canicula in the Bristol Channel, U.K.’, Journal of Fish Biology, 51(2), pp. 361–372. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.1997.tb01672.x.
• Gubili, C. et al. (2014) ‘A tale of two seas: Contrasting patterns of population structure in the small-spotted catshark across Europe’, Royal Society Open Science, 1(3), p. 140175. doi:10.1098/rsos.140175.
• Jacoby, D.M. et al. (2014) ‘Shark personalities? repeatability of social network traits in a widely distributed predatory fish’, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 68(12), pp. 1995–2003. doi:10.1007/s00265-014-1805-9.
• Morgan, E., Hutchinson, D. and Gaion, A. (2021) ‘Plastic ingestion by the small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus Canicula) from the South West Coast of the United Kingdom’, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 106(6), pp. 910–915. doi:10.1007/s00128-021-03129-3.
• Pawson, M.G. and Ellis, J.R. (2005) ‘Stock identity of elasmobranchs in the northeast Atlantic in relation to assessment and management’, Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science, 35, pp. 173–193. doi:10.2960/j.v35.m480.
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