FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 2 



. 



SHE 



Figure 17. 



(Upper) Lateral view of a 91.0 cm female Odontaspis taurus (IRCZM 103182) born 22 March 1981 at Sea World of Orlando, 



Fla.; (lower) view of dentition of same empryo. 



"The female had been swimming between 5 and 

 8 feet [1.5 to 2.4 m] off the bottom in the center 

 section. The pup was born c. 6 ft [1.8 m) above tjje 

 bottom. It immediately swam off. The mother 

 shark did not alter course or speed at the time the 

 pup fell free. 



"Within less than a minute after the first pup was 

 born, about 3 inches [7.6 cm] of tail appeared. The 

 end of the tail disappeared 10 to 12 minutes later. 

 Approximately 1 minutes later the tip of the sec- 



ond pup's snout emerged following 3 to 4 inches 

 [7.6 to 10.2 cm] of the head. The head disappeared 

 a few minutes later. It appeared from this and the 

 distortions of the female shark's belly that the pup 

 turned several times inside of her in the course of 

 half an hour or so. 



"The tip of the tail appeared and disappeared 

 again, then the snout began to emerge about an 

 hour after the first pup had been born. This was 

 followed by gradual emergence to [of] the head to 



220 



