Cartilaginous Fishes—Class Chondrichthyes — (A skeleton of cartilage that is not true bone)
Subclass Elasmobranchi—Sharks and Rays
Order Carcharhiniformes — Hound Sharks—Family Triakididae
Picture courtesy of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Species: Galeorhinus zyopterus (Linnaeus, 1758); from the Greek words galeos (a kind of shark), rhinos (nose or snout), zuon, (animal) and pteron (fin-large pectoral fin).
Alternate Names: Tope, oil shark, vitamin shark, snapper shark. Called tiburón aceitoso in Mexico.
Identification: They have a slender body with two dorsal fins, the second much smaller than the first and located nearly over the anal fin (which is about the same size). . They have a large subterminal lobe on the caudal fin (tail) that creates the appearance of a “doubled” tail. They have a long, pointed snout and elongate eyes. Their coloring is dark, bluish or bronze gray above and white below with black on the forward edges of the dorsal and pectoral fins; the caudal fin is usually black tipped with a white spot.. Youngsters, like you sometimes see on piers ,have a white edge on the pectoral fins.
A soupfin shark caught at the Berkeley Pier by Redfish (Robert Gardner)
Size: To 6.5 feet and about 100 pounds but most caught from piers are under four feet.
Range: From San Juanico Bay, southern Baja California, and the Gulf of California, to northern British Columbia.
Habitat: Found in both bays and oceanfront water; normally found in deeper parts of bays but frequently in shallower water, especially at night. Tends to feed on fish, squid and octopus.
A 55-pound soupfin caught by barracuda76 at the San Clemente Pier in 2007
Piers: An infrequent catch at some San Francisco Bay piers. Best bets: San Francisco Municipal Pier, Berkeley Pier, Elephant Rock Pier, Angel Island Pier, and the Fort Baker Pier.
Shoreline: Occasionally taken by shore anglers in San Francisco Bay.
Boats: A frequent catch by boaters in San Francisco Bay.
A soupfin caught at the Manhattan Beach Pier in 2011
Bait and Tackle: Medium tackle, line at least 20-pound test line, and hooks 2/0 or larger. The best bait is a live midshipman, mudsucker or staghorn sculpin fished near the bottom. Live shrimp, grass shrimp or ghost shrimp, and frozen squid or anchovies will also tempt a few soupfin.
Food Value: A mild flavored flesh suited to several methods of cooking. The best method is probably grilled. It does need to be cleaned properly and kept cool before cooking.
Comments: Never as common as smoothhounds or leopard sharks. Females give birth in the spring to 15-50 young and soon after many of the small pups will be caught by anglers (and hopefully will be returned to the water to grow).
A soupfin shark and one happy angler at the Cayucos Pier
A nice soupfin caught in the surf in north San Diego Count by lowprofile in 2012
A 5’10″ soupfin caught by “Mr. Happy” at the Venice Pier in 2006
Soupfin shark taken at the Gaviota Pier in 2005 by eddog who said he is 5’10″ tall