Brown Smooth-hound

It is found on the continental shelves of the subtropical eastern Pacific, from northern California to the Gulf of California, as well as Ecuador and Peru between latitudes 43° N and 18° S, from the surface to depths of 266 meters and is considered to be endemic to the nearshore shark assemblage in the northeastern Pacific. The shark is generally found in enclosed, shallow, and muddy bays and has the largest distribution in its genus in the eastern Pacific. Although the species is epibenthic, some individuals often foray into the pelagic zone when hunting for prey. The species also engages in seasonal migrations into deeper, coastal waters and although it spends most of its time in the bays, it departs during wintertime as waters cool, migrating out of estuarine waters between November and April specifically and returning in around May. The shark travels an average of 15.3 km per day as part of these migrations and has the ability to cover long distances through continuous swimming. Gene flow and population connectivity investigations have revealed that there are three primary populations of the species, two of which, the Northern Californian population and the Costa Rican population, have genetically diverged greatly from the third, the population at Central-Southern California and Mexico. …