Species: Spiny Dogfish.
Location: Loch Sunart, UK. 2009.
During my research into the shark immune system, I became particularly interested in the conservation status of one of our focal species; the spiny dogfish, also known as Spurdog (Squalus acanthias). Due to population segregation and aggregation, stocks are assessed as subpopulations. The Northeast Atlantic sub-population that I was working with is currently listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. They are heavily fished for their meat and are considered particularly vulnerable to overexploitation, due to their late maturity and low reproductive capacity.
To try to understand more about the habitat utilisation of the spiny dogfish in Western Scottish Sea Lochs, I deployed 10 data storage tags in conjunction with the Scottish Shark Tagging Program, on animals caught by rod and line in Loch Sunart.