Celestial Eye have deeper bodies and shorter fins, and have selectively bred for these features as required by the British standard. In recent decades, the Chinese have crossed Celestials with several other breeds, most commonly Lionheads, Ranchus and Pompoms, producing much larger fish with short ranchu-like fins and very deep, blocky bodies, often with nasal 'bouquets' (pompoms) and rudimentary headgrowths. Some of these crosses tend to be less animated swimmers, especially those that possess a short, sharply downturned, ranchu-like caudal peduncle with flared and short caudal fins, traits which are otherwise uncharacteristic for the breed. Such fish can be quite sedentary, spending
Whitefin dogfish is distinctive in being the only "Centroscyllium" species with abrupt black markings beneath its head, trunk, and pectoral fins, with a black stripe running from under the caudal peduncle to over the pelvic fins. These markings are in fact concentrations of tiny light-emitting photophores. Unusually, this shark also has photophores along the undersides of its upper eyelids. What function these structures could serve is unclear; Tchernavin speculated that they could be used to illuminate prey or stimulate the eye. The rest of the body is gray-brown, with white fin margins. There are numerous small cone-shaped, hooked prickles over the body,