which there are no appreciable differences in the 

 shape of the nasal flap or its nearness to the mouth. 

 Thus throughout the genus Scyliorhinus, except- 

 ing only S. canicula where the nasal flaps do pro- 

 vide a structural feature differing from that found 

 in all other species, the best and by far the most 

 reliable character for identification of specimens 

 is their color pattern. Differences in proportions 

 do exist, and there are other differences in denticle 

 and tooth structure and in the shape, and position 

 of fins; but these differences seem to be of little 

 practical usefulness at this stage of the study of the 

 family except in the analysis of series of specimens 

 and in preliminary determinations of probable 

 relationships. 



KEY TO WESTERN ATLANTIC SCYLIORHINUS 



Note. — Preservatives dissolve nil from shark livers, 

 adding yellowish pigments to specimens, sometimes turn- 

 ing gray colored specimens to brown. 



la. Dorsal surfaces (except fins) with randomly arranged 

 but almost uniformly spaced, light-colored and 

 nearly round spots in a brown background (browD 

 in life as well as in preservative) ; darker areas 

 representing seven saddles may be present but are 

 usually obscure ; lighter below, without spots. 



x. torrei; Florida Straits, off northern coast of 

 Cuba, 

 lb. Dorsal surfaces neither brown in life ( but may be 

 brown in preservative) nor covered by randomly 

 arranged white spots ; all species with variations on 

 a basic pattern of seven saddles, a prepeetoral, a 

 pectoral, postpectoral, first dorsal, second dorsal, 

 precaudal, and caudal saddles ; additional darker 

 areas (blotches or saddles) may occasionally ap- 

 pear in intermediate positions such as between the 

 dorsal fins, but such blotches or saddles are 

 usually more obscure than the seven principal sad- 

 .dies; lateral pattern, when present, sometimes with 

 a series of blotches roughly alternating with 

 saddles. 

 2a. Saddles made up of simple blotches of darker color, 

 usually without included darker lines or darker 

 spots ; lighter areas within saddles sometimes 

 present but rather indistinct, not api>earing as 

 round whitish spots smaller than diameter of eye; 

 intermediate saddles and spots outside basic pat- 

 tern few or absent. 



8. meadi new species; Florida Straits. St. Au- 

 gustine to Santaren Channel. 

 2b. Saddles and lateral blotches with nearly round, while 

 or light-colored spots included within their mar- 

 gins, these spots usually smaller than diameter of 

 eye; no dark lines or dark spots within the sad- 

 dles; some specimens with reduced number of 



middles. 



S. hespcrius new species; western Caribbean, off 

 Honduras, Nicaragua, and Jamaica. 

 2c. Dorsal saddles with black marginal lines enclosing 

 areas of the lighter background color, the enclosed 

 areas usually not round, in most specimens the 

 lines forming a reticulate pattern ; the reticulate 

 pattern commonly extended to form intermediate 

 patterns obscuring basic pattern of saddles, but 

 in a few specimens reduced and showing only as 

 saddles with marginal lines but without reticulat- 

 ing lines (fig. 2A and 2B show patterns near ex- 

 tremes of variation in material examined) ; no 

 round white spots and isolated black spots few. 

 8. rctifrr (Garman) ; southwestern edge of 

 Georges Bank (New England) along the outer 

 continental shelf and the continental slope to the 

 Carolinas and along the continental slope south- 

 ward ; off both east and west coasts of Florida ; 

 along the continental slope in the Gulf of Mexico 

 and the western side of the Yucatan Channel ; 

 present on western Caribbean Banks including 

 Pedro Bank as far south as Latitude 13°30' N. 

 Not yet reported from Cuba or the Antillean 

 side of the Straits of Florida. 

 2d. Pattern of saddles usually outlined by small rounded 

 black spots which may lw> present also outside the 

 pattern ; in some specimens black spots are so nu- 

 merous as to obscure saddles ; no white spots. 

 S. boa (Goode and Bean) ; Lesser Antilles and 

 continental slopes of South America from Vene- 

 zuela to northern Argentina. 



Scyliorhinus torrei Howell-Rivero, 1936 



Figures 4, 7, 14, and 27 ; tables 1, 3, and 4. 



Scyliorhinus torrei Howell-Rivero, Proc. Boston Soc. 

 Natur. Hist. 41(4) : 43-44, pi. 9, 1936 (type locality 

 off Havana in deep water). 



S. torrei is the smallest species of the genus, the 

 males becoming mature at about 250 mm. In this 

 connection it should be noted that Ford (1921) 

 finds no marked difference in sizes attained by 

 males and females in Scyliorhinm canicula. and 

 that the series of all scyliorhinids examined in this 

 study show no indication that there is a disparity 

 in size attained by the sexes. The numbers of 

 adult specimens examined, however, are too few to 

 show this conclusively for any western Atlantic, 

 species. The largest specimen of S. torrei recorded 

 is 209 mm. (Bigelow and Schroeder 1948). As 

 might be expected from its small size and slender 

 form, S. torrei has a short liver occupying only a 

 part of the anterior half of the body cavity. Pro- 

 portionally large ovarian eggs (in the right ovary 

 in adult females) with diameters up to 10 mm. 

 crowd other organs. In gross appearance the 

 nidamental eland and oviducts in S. torrei are 



598 



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