This bone-free shark possesses many of the attributes U.S. consumers are looking for. Promoters hope to find greater acceptance for the dogfish by marketing it under a Food-and-Drug-Administration-approved alternative name: “Cape shark.” Domestically, the species is found along the Pacific Coast from the Gulf of Alaska to Point Conception, California. On the Atlantic Coast, it roams between Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, and Cape Cod. Cape shark is targeted by longliners and landed as a bycatch of gillnetters. Market size is about 3 feet, with an average weight of 7 to 10 pounds. Like all sharks, dogfish are elasmobranchs, which means they have cartilage instead of bone for a skeleton. Sharks also lack a traditional urinary tract, so they concentrate urea, a waste product, in their blood and excrete it through their skin. As soon as it’s caught, dogfish must be gutted, bled and chilled. Otherwise, the urea remains in the flesh, and an ammonia smell develops within 24 hours.