The Lesser Spotted Dogfish is Ireland ’s smallest and commonest Shark! It is found all round the Irish coast, and only grows to a few kilos in weight. It is an incredibly laid back, lazy animal, and spends up to 23 hours each day simply sitting, resting on the sea-bed! As an adult Dogfish has few natural predators, it can doze on sand in the middle of a bay and not worry about being attacked.

They are commonly fished for by anglers, due to their propensity to take large, crunching bites at any smelly bait they come across, making them particularly easy to catch.

They are given the nick-name “Blind Dog” by fishermen due to their terrible eyesight, and they use their sense of smell for finding their way around and hunting.

Dogfish are one of the hardiest creatures in the sea: their skin is very thick and rough, and as they have such a relaxed disposition, they are able to survive out of water for several hours.

They breed annually, and nine months after mating, the female dogfish lays a batch of about 25 eggs. These are large eggs protected by thick, leathery egg-cases. Each egg-case is individually attached to a hold-fast, such as a strong piece of weed, by tendrils at the ends of the egg-case. The baby Dogfish develops inside its egg-case for nine months, before hatching as a fully formed Shark. The empty egg-cases often wash up on beaches as “Mermaid’s Purses.”