The smooth dogfish is gray to brown in color and both dorsal fins are about the same size. Spiny dogfish is quickly recognized by the spine in front of each dorsal fin. For the most part, sandbar and dogfish sharks pose little, if any, danger to humans. Sharks in the Chesapeake are found mostly in the lower Bay but some species do travel into the brackish water of the middle Bay. This shark can be identified by a rounded snout, a large upright first dorsal fin, and by an interdorsal ridge.
Color varies from bluish grey, brownish grey, to bronze with a paler or white underside.
A rather stout shark ranging from about 4-6 ft. in length at maturity, the sandbar shark is considered large for a coastal shark. Related species include the dusky shark, the bignose shark and the bull shark. Having a cosmopolitan distribution, sandbar sharks are found in tropical to temperate waters throughout the world. In North America it ranges from New England to the Florida Keys and is often found along the bottom in shallow coastal waters such as bays, estuaries, harbors, and river mouths. Every other year females bear an average of 9 pups in the summer.