Common smooth-hound shark but in males, the pelvic fins are modified to form claspers. Like other smooth hounds, the common smooth hound will aggregate in large numbers, like a pack of dogs. This is why they are called hounds. Common smooth-hound The common smooth-hound ("Mustelus mustelus") is a houndshark of the family Triakidae. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the British Isles to South Africa, and in the Mediterranean Sea, Madeira, and the Canary Islands at depths ranging from 5 m to 625 m (although they usually stay at depths between 5-50m). While they can grow to 200 cm,
Slender smooth-hound in size. The diet of the slender smooth-hound is diverse, but dominated by small, benthic bony fishes and decapod crustaceans. It exhibits a specialized form of aplacental viviparity with oophagy: the females produce a single capsule in each uterus that contains 30–80 ova, of which one ovum develops into an embryo that consumes the rest of the ova and stores the yolk material in its external yolk sac. The growing embryo is mainly sustained by this yolk sac during gestation, though it may be additionally supplied with histotroph ("uterine milk") produced by the mother. The typical litter size is two