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
Istrian Shorthaired Hound Writers cited as having mentioned the type include Bishop of Đakovo Petar Bakić in 1719 and the veterinarian Franjo Bertić, also of Đakovo, in 1859. The old type is seen in the Posavaz Hound and the Istrian Coarse-haired Hound, as well. The smooth- and coarse-haired hounds were used for hunting in Istria (see the article on Motovun for photographs of the sort of mountainous terrain they were bred to hunt) while the Posavaz Hound is from the Sava Valley. The Istrian hounds are thought to be the oldest of the hound breeds in the Balkan region. A stud book was