Brown Smoothhounds in San Francisco Bay

Brown Smoothhound (Mustelus henlei)

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Distribution of Brown Smoothhounds in San Francisco Bay

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The brown smoothhound ranges from the Gulf of California to Humboldt Bay. They are found from shallow water to 110m, and grow to approximate maximum length of 950 mm. Brown smoothhound are most common to San Francisco, Tomales, and Humboldt bays, and use San Francisco and Tomales bays as nursery areas.

The brown smoothhound was the most abundant shark species collected by the San Francisco Bay Monitoring Program from 1980 to 1992. They are found primarily in the more marine embayments of South, Central and San Pablo bays. The abundance of brown smoothhounds in San Pablo Bay appears to be greater in the dryer years.

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Annual abundance indices for the juveniles are generated from the San Francisco Bay Monitoring Progam using otter trawl data.