510 



SQUAL1DE. 



On the Cornish coast this is a common and rapacious 

 species ; but it is not so destructive as the Blue Shark. 

 The larger specimens, which are about six feet long, abound 

 chiefly in summer ; and the young, to the number of thirty 

 or more, according to Mr. Couch, are excluded all at once 

 from the female in May and June. They do not reach the 

 full size until the second year, and continue with us through 

 the first winter, while those of larger size retire into deep 

 water. No use is made of this species beyond melting the 

 liver for oil. When caught on a fisherman's line, this fish 

 sometimes has recourse to the same attempt at deliverance as 

 the Blue Shark, by twisting the line throughout the whole 

 length round its body. 



Body fusiform : the skin almost smooth ; lateral line 

 straight ; the first and second dorsal fins rather small, tri- 

 angular, very slightly convex on their posterior edges, both 

 ending in points directed backwards; the first dorsal fin 

 placed over the interval between the pectoral and ventral 

 fins ; the second immediately over the anal fin, and a little 

 larger than it in size : the head is rather large ; the muzzle 

 elongated and depressed ; nostrils pierced very near the 

 mouth, in part closed by a membrane ; the eyes moderate, 

 and over the mouth ; temporal orifices small ; the jaws semi- 

 circular ; teeth small, in several rows, and very nearly alike 

 both above and below, triangular and denticulated on the 

 outer side ; the branchial apertures are small, placed near 

 together, the four first nearly equal in size, the fifth the 



