08/14/2026
Smooth dogfish pups are fairly clumsy and easily disoriented. This makes navigating some of their natural foraging areas, such as the surf zone, particularly challenging for them.
During our shark fishing trips over more than a decade, we have witnessed this “mystery” unfolding over and over again in real time. Waves pick the dogfish up and throw them up on the beach. Some will swim back with the receding waves, others are not so lucky.
In some cases, like in this video,the tide will come up excessively high and trap all kinds of life in the tide pools, dogfish usually being the most notable by morning, since the scavengers and birds usually pick off the normal fish first.
The heavier the surf, the more likely you will be to see this for yourself. Just know it happens very regularly and is not always indicative of anything sinister going on.
