Roughskin Dogfish Footage Gives a First-Ever Look At the Elusive Fish in Action
It's rare to see these creatures alive, since they are most often found when they're accidentally caught in fishing nets.
Published Dec. 30 2024, 1:49 p.m. ET
Deep sea enthusiasts and researchers are celebrating after the first-ever footage was captured of the elusive roughskin dogfish shark. These deep-sea dwellers have never been captured live on film before, making this discovery even more impressive (and important) for those looking to learn more about the fish.
Researchers are now hoping that this footage can help further the country's efforts to protect the biodiversity in and around the Cayman Islands, a travel hotspot.
You can learn more about the roughskin dogfish sharks and their habitat below.
The first-ever video footage of a roughskin dogfish was captured in the deep sea.
The excitement was palpable in a video shared by Olivia Dixon on Instagram. In the clip, Dixon and some of her fellow researchers can be seen setting up the GoPro camera they dropped thousands of feet into the sea in an attempt to learn more about the creatures that lurk that far beneath the ocean's surface.
According to the Miami Herald, Dixon's team lucked out on Nov. 28, 2024, at a depth of approximately 3,500 feet.
The camera, attached to a bait cage full of sardines, caught approximately 11 minutes of action featuring at least 54 sightings of the fish as they swam, investigated, and ate.
The researchers told the paper that they hope their discovery will highlight how successful non-invasive studies can be for researching the creatures that live in our planet's waters.
Where are roughskin dogfish found?
If you want to see a roughskin dogfish for yourself, you're going to have to be in the right place at the right time. While the footage caught by Dixon's team was the first known video of the fish, it's not the first time humans have glimpsed the strange animal. Fishermen have been known to accidentally catch these fish in netting while trying to capture other species during commercial and personal fishing trips.
While those examples don't often make headlines, sometimes they go viral thanks to the unusual appearance of the fish, like a photo that was shared to Facebook by Australian angler Trapman Bermagui. He posted a photo of his catch on the social media platform, writing that he caught it at a depth of 650 meters (or roughly 2,132 feet).
So, where do these fish typically call home? According to the Shark Sider blog, they are often found in the deep areas of temperate and tropical waters.
More specifically, they can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Western Indian Ocean, and more.
How many types of dogfish are there?
Dogfish is the term used to describe the order of Squaliformes, which are small sharks that include a variety of different families ranging from the deep sea kind to a smaller variety that ends up in home aquariums.
According to Britannica, there are 13 known types of these fish. But, maybe with the new footage, scientists will be able to expand those numbers once they learn more about the creature's habits.