Norwegian record Lesser spotted dogfish: 1.73 kg

About Lesser spotted dogfish

The lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula), also called the small-spotted catshark, is a slim little shark with a rounded snout and two dorsal fins placed far back near the tail. Its greyish-brown back is peppered with small dark spots, the belly is pale, and the skin feels like coarse sandpaper. Most are well under a metre long, with a maximum of about 1 m and a little over 2 kg. It lives over sand, gravel and mud from the shallows down to roughly 400 m, from West Africa and the Mediterranean north to Norway, where it reaches Nordland and is most common off the west coast. It feeds on crabs, shrimps, molluscs, worms and small fish. Females lay horny egg cases, often called mermaid's purses, whose tendrils are wound around seaweed; the young hatch months later at about 10 cm. Anglers usually catch it on baited bottom rigs, often while targeting other fish. Norwegian Red List 2021: Least Concern (LC).

Sources: Artsdatabanken, Store norske leksikon, Wikipedia

• Habitat: Saltvann
• Best month: Februar

See the species guide

Biggest Lesser spotted dogfish in FishComp

1 kg (58 % of the record) by Emrik Hansen. See the catch

How to register a Norwegian record

1. Norwegian sport-fishing records are registered with Villmarksliv, not with FishComp. Read the rules before you do anything else with the fish.
2. Records are based on weight and approved by a jury. You give the weight and length, where it was caught, the gear you used and any witnesses.
3. Keep your photos and notes from the catch. Logging it in FishComp does not register a record.