The roughskin spurdog (''Cirrhigaleus asper'') is a dogfish of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Squalidae Squalidae, more commonly known as dogfish, dog sharks, or spiny dogfish, are one of several families of sharks categorized under Squaliformes, making it the second largest order of sharks, numbering 119 species across 7 families. Having earned t ...

, found circumglobally between latitudes 35°N and 35°S, at depths of between and . It reaches a length of . The roughskin spurdog is

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...

with 21 to 22 young in a litter.

Taxonomy

The roughskin spurdog was first described in 1973 as ''Squalas Asper'' by British

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Nigel Merrett Nigel Robert Merrett (born 1940) is a British zoologist and ichthyologist and former director of the fish section of the British Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with na ...

. It was later quickly changed to ''Cirrhigaleus asper.'' The roughskin spurdog is also known as the roughskin dogfish and roughskin dogshark in English.

References

* * Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, ''Sharks of the World'', Princeton University Press, New Jersey 2005 {{Taxonbar, from=Q377622 Cirrhigaleus Fish described in 1973 Taxa named by Nigel Merrett