Species sheet · The Edible Ocean
Starry smooth-hound
The small spotted shark, discreet and elegant.
- Pan-fried with butter
- Baked in the oven as steaks
- In fish stock or fish soup
- In French
- Émissole tachetée
- Scientific name
- Mustelus asterias
- In the water
- A small demersal shark of the north-east Atlantic and Mediterranean, from 0 to 350 m, often over sandy or muddy bottoms.
- Season & buying
- Present year-round; favour local provenance and fresh fish.
- Common length
- ~154 cm
- How to identify it
- Elongated streamlined body
Grey-brown back with dark spots
Two dorsal fins of similar size, without spines
On the plate
White, firm and tasty flesh, close to nursehound but more delicate.
Avoid: Leaving it too long out of the cold: shark flesh degrades quickly.
The starry smooth-hound has smaller dark spots than the greater spotted dogfish.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
