BLUE SHARK. 499 



theme of several of the older writers, ichthyologists as well as 

 poets ; and mariners of the present day believe that, when 

 danger appears, the young brood enter the mouth of the 

 parent fish, and take shelter in its belly. Living young have 

 doubtless been found in the stomachs of large Sharks : their 

 extraordinary tenacity of life is proverbial, and will account 

 for this ; but the safety to be expected from incarceration in 

 such a prison is somewhat problematical. 



The Blue Shark is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, 

 and appears to occur much more frequently on the Devon- 

 shire and Cornish coasts than on any other part of the British 

 Islands ; it has been taken in the Bristol Channel, and in 

 Swansea Bay ; it has also been taken off the south and east 

 coasts of Ireland, and has been known to wander even as far 

 north as Zetland. 



Mr. Couch, who has had frequent opportunities of seeing 

 this species, makes the following observations : " The Blue 

 Shark is migratory, and I have never known it arrive on the 

 coast of Cornwall before the middle of June ; but afterwards 

 it becomes abundant, so that I have known eleven taken in 

 one boat, and nine in another, in one day. The injury they 

 inflict on the fishermen is great, as they hover about the 

 boats, watch the lines, (which they sometimes cut asunder 

 without any obvious motive,) and pursue the fish that are 

 drawn up. This, indeed, often leads to their own destruc- 

 tion : but when their teeth do not deliver them from their 

 difficulty, they have a singular method of proceeding, which 

 is by rolling the body round so as to twine the line about 

 them throughout its whole length ; and sometimes this is done 



O C' 



in such a complicated manner, that I have known a fisherman 

 give up any attempt to unroll it as a hopeless task. To the 

 Pilchard drift-net this Shark is a still more dangerous enemy, 

 and it is common for it to pass in succession along the whole 



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