DOGFISH, the popular name of some of the smaller species of shark; apparently -owing its origin—like the names porbeagle, hound, etc. bestowed on others of the same family—to their habit of following their prey like dogs hunting in packs. Of the species to which the name D. is given on the British coasts, One of the most abundant is that sometimes called the common D. ((mantillas vulgaris), also known as the picked (i.e., piked or spined) dogfish. It belongs to the family spinaeido3, of which one charac teristic is the presence of a spine before each of the two dorsal fins; and which is further characterized by having spiracles or spout-holes; by having five gill-openings on each side all before the pectoral fins; and by having no anal fin, and no nictitating membrane of the eye. The body is long and tapering; the head fiat; the snout conical; the teeth in both jaws sharp-edged, and formed for cutting. The tail-fin is longer than it is broad. The upper parts are slate-gray, the under parts yellowish-white; the skin very rough when rubbed from tail to head, but seeming quite smooth when rubbed in the contrary direction. This fish uses its spines in a remarkable manner, bending itself into the form of a bow, and unbending with a powerful spring; and "if a finger be placed on its head, it will strike it without piercing its own skin." It attains a length of 3 or 4 feet. It is very widely distributed, being found in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the South seas. It causes great annoyance to fishermen, by cutting the hooks from their lines, and still more by frightening away the shoals of herring, in which other kinds of D. share the blame with it. It sometimes appears in prodigious numbers; 20,000 have been taken in a net at one time on the coast of Cornwall; and the fishermen of the Orkneys and Hebrides sometimes load their boats to the water's edge with them. The
flesh, although coarse, is dried and eaten; the livers yield oil, and the refuse parts are used as manure.—The other British dog-fishes belong to the genus scyllium, of the family scylliida, which have an anal fin, and two dorsal fins placed far back. They resemble in general form the species just described, and like it, they have the tail-fin longer than it is broad—they have five gill-openings on each side—the last of which, however, is over the base of the pectoral fin. They have spout-holes, and no nictitating membrane; but their teeth are very different, having a long central point, with shorter points on each side. The spotted D. of two species (S. canicula and S.catulus), both of a generally reddish-brown color, and marked with dark spots, is often taken with bait on all parts of the British coasts; and although almost never brought to market, is much used for food in the Orkney islands. It has been suggested that the fins of these and other sharks might be used for making gelatine soup, as in China.
a name sometimes given to certain small animals of the family canidce, allied to the corsac (q.v.), and,.like it, referred to the genus cynalopex. They have a sharp muzzle, not unlike that of a greyhound, rather large, erect, pointed ears, the pupil of the eye contracting circularly as in the dog, the tail bushy like that of a fox. They inhabit warm parts of Asia and Africa; and some, if not all of them, burrow.