Common smooth-hound on its underneath. It is often confused with the starry smooth-hound which has white spots on its back. The starry smooth-hound can often have faded spots which leads to misidentification. Another shark it is often confused with is the tope shark although the common smooth hound has a larger second dorsal fin. Due to the similarities between the common smooth-hound and other sharks, misidentification occurred for a long time. The common smooth-hound has two dorsal fins, an anal fin, a pair of pectoral fins, a pair of pelvic fins and a heterocercal tail. All of these fins help stabilise the
Dusky smooth-hound replaced tooth. Teeth are replaced at a rate of one row per 10 to 12 days. "M. canis" feeds mostly on crustaceans, polychaetes, and mollusks. Smooth dogfish also eat squid, worms, small fish, razor clams, and occasionally garbage. They are nocturnal scavengers and opportunistic predators. Their nocturnal activity helps them to take advantage of concentrations of crustacean prey. The mating season of smooth dogfish is from May to June. They are viviparous and have a yolk-sac placenta. Females can store sperm up to a year, but how long it can be used is not known. Their gestation period is 10