Longsnout Dogfish

The longsnout dogfish is a slender, deepwater shark distinguished by its extended, flattened snout and large green-tinted eyes adapted for low-light environments. Reaching roughly a meter in length, this species has two dorsal fins each equipped with sharp spines, a trait characteristic of the family Centrophoridae. As a slow-moving, likely opportunistic predator and scavenger, it feeds on small fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans found near the seafloor.

Like other deepwater sharks, it grows slowly, matures late, and produces few young, making populations inherently vulnerable to depletion.

This species inhabits continental and insular slopes at depths generally ranging from several hundred to over a thousand meters. It has a wide but patchy distribution across the Indo-Pacific and parts of the southeastern Atlantic and southwestern Indian Ocean, with records from Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Taiwan, Mozambique, Indonesia, Madagascar, Japan, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and South Africa.

The primary threat is incidental capture in deepwater commercial fisheries, including trawl, longline, and gillnet operations targeting other species. Because deepwater sharks reproduce slowly, even low levels of bycatch mortality can exceed sustainable limits, driving population decline across much of its range.

Conservation measures remain limited and are largely tied to broader deepwater fisheries management, including depth restrictions and bycatch reporting requirements in some jurisdictions, rather than species-specific protections. Enforcement and monitoring vary considerably between countries within its range.

Given ongoing fishing pressure, minimal targeted management, and the species' low reproductive capacity, the population is expected to continue declining, warranting its classification as Vulnerable and continued monitoring.