captivity the eggs are simply dropped on the bottom and may later be cannibalized. The eggs hatch in 6–10 months; at emergence the young measure long. Newly hatched sharks are provisioned with an internal yolk sac and do not have to feed until they are a month old, though they are capable of feeding and will accept food during this period. Horn sharks grow slowly and at a highly variable rate that does not correspond to their size; this has frustrated attempts to determine their aging process. Males mature at a length of and females at a length of at least . Individual sharks have lived to over 12 years old in captivity, and there exists an unconfirmed report of a shark reaching 25 years of age. Human interactions Under normal circumstances, horn sharks are harmless to humans and can readily be approached underwater. However, they can be provoked into biting, and some pugnacious individuals have been known to chase and bite divers after being harassed. These sharks should be handled with care as their fin spines can inflict a painful wound. The horn shark adapts well to captivity and has been maintained and bred in many public aquariums across the United States. In July 2018, three people were arrested after stealing a juvenile horn shark from the San Antonio Aquarium. The shark was smuggled out of the aquarium in a stroller under a blanket. It was returned unharmed two days later. The horn shark has no commercial value in California, where it is captured unintentionally in traps and trawls and by recreational anglers. The shark's hardiness ensures that it can often be returned to the water alive. This species benefits from general restrictions placed on coastal fishing gear by the State of California. The average annual bycatch off California is , though historically it has varied from in 1976 to in 1979. Divers sometimes kill them for sport or to make jewelry out of their fin spines, which may be the cause of a decline in the numbers of horn sharks in the most intensely dived areas of southern California. Off Mexico, this species is caught incidentally in shrimp trawls and demersal gillnets, and used for human consumption and fishmeal. The expansion of Mexican gillnet fisheries may pose a conservation concern in the future. At present, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) does not have sufficient information