Females generally inhabit deeper water than males, and depending on the region, smaller sharks may occur at different depths than larger ones.

As large portions of its range see little deepwater fishing activity and its northwestern Atlantic population seems to be stable, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed this species under Least Concern overall.

Reinhardt gave it the name Spinax fabricii in honor of missionary and naturalist Otto Fabricius, who pioneered the study of Greenlandic fishes.

[2] German biologists Johannes Müller and Jakob Henle, in their 1839–41 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen, created the new genus Centroscyllium for this species.

In the northeast, it occurs from Iceland to Sierra Leone, including the Faroe Islands, southern Norway, and the Rockall Trough and Porcupine Seabight off Ireland.

In the northwest, it is found from southern Greenland and Baffin Island to Virginia, being particularly abundant in the Laurentian Channel, and may occur further south to the Gulf of Mexico off Alabama.

[6] Sharks off northern Canada perform development-related movements (see below) not observed off western Greenland, suggesting the presence of two distinct stocks in the northwestern Atlantic.

[1] Adult black dogfish typically measure 60–75 cm (24–30 in) in length and can reach 1.1 m (3.6 ft), making it the largest member of its family.

[8] The shark has a rather stocky and laterally compressed body, with a moderately long, thick, and flattened snout that forms a very broad arch at the front.

The sizable, horizontally oval eyes are a reflective green in life and lack nictitating membranes (protective third eyelids); they are followed a short distance behind by much smaller spiracles (accessory respiratory openings).

[9] It is one of several deep-sea sharks parasitized by the barnacle Anelasma squalicola, which attaches in front of the second dorsal fin and impairs the reproductive development of its host.

[12][19] The bulk of its diet consists of a variety of bony fishes, including rattails, whitings, rockfishes, lanternfishes, and barracudinas, as well as pelagic crustaceans such as krill and shrimp, and cephalopods.

[8][19] In the northwestern Atlantic, Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) and rattail offal discarded from fishing vessels have become a major source of food for this species, particularly for older sharks that are capable of consuming larger pieces such as heads.

As the young grow, they migrate into the deeper parts of the Channel, and eventually a long distance northward over the Grand Banks or the Labrador Shelf, to the deep continental slope.

[1] The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the black dogfish under Least Concern worldwide; it is minimally affected by fishing activity across many parts of its range, while its population in the northwestern Atlantic presently seems to be stable and may have increased from 1978 to 1995.

[1][24] By contrast, the intensity of deepwater fisheries in the northeastern Atlantic has led the IUCN to give this species a regional assessment of Near Threatened.