Hound Shark Family – Triakidae

There are currently EIGHT members of the Hound Shark or Triakidae Family, two from the Atlantic Ocean and six from the Pacific Ocean, are presented in this website:

FROM THE ATLANTIC (2):

FROM THE PACIFIC (6):

The fish of the Hound Shark or Triakidae Family includes the hound sharks, the smoothhound sharks, and the tope sharks and has thirty-six global members that have been placed in nine genera of which ten are found in Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic Ocean and seven in the Pacific Ocean. They are found globally in all temperate and tropical seas. They are known in Mexico’s fishing areas as cazones.

The Hound Sharks are small (37 cm or 1 feet 3 inches) to mid-sized (2.2 m or 7 feet 2 inches) fish. They have traditional shark colors being generally grayish-brown dorsally and transitioning to white ventrally. Their bodies are slender to moderately stout. They have long pointed snouts with horizontal oval eyes located high on the sides of the head with lower eyelids, small spiracles, a long and angular arched mouth that reaches past the front edge of the eyes, and numerous small teeth. They have 5 gill slits the last 2 being over the pectoral fin base. They do not have barbells. Their anal fin is smaller than or equal in size to their second dorsal fin; their caudal fin is strongly asymmetrical with the lower lobe being absent to strong; they have two dorsal fins, the first being much shorter than the caudal fin and having its base before the pectoral fins and anteriorly to the pelvic fins, and the second being large, but smaller than the first dorsal fin and originating before the anal fin.

The Hound Sharks are bottom dwellers found from coastal shallow waters to depths in excess of 2,000 m (6,600 feet). They are generally more active at night feeding on cephalopods, crustaceans, and fish. Reproduction is ovoviviparous or viviparous. In general the Hound Sharks are poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Hound Sharks are fairly abundant in shallow waters and caught with some regularity by commercial fishermen with gill nets, by sports fishermen with hook and line, and by spear fishermen. They are considered a quality food fish but with the current ban on sharks in Mexican waters they are a “catch and release”. Globally they are sold fresh, frozen, smoked or dried-salted and are also components of shark fin soup and are used to produce liver oil and fish meal. The Leopard Shark, Triakis semifasciata, is a common component of large public aquariums. The Hound Sharks are not considered to be dangerous to humans.