FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



By HENRY B. BIGELOW, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, and WILLIAM 

 W. WELSH, Late Scientific Assistant, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 6 



Scope of the work 7 



Area covered 7 



Sources of information 8 



Use of the keys 10 



Key to Gulf of Maine fishes 11 



The lampreys. Class Marsipobranchii 15 



The hagfishes and lampreys. Familes Myxinidae and Petromyzonidae 15 



Hagfish (Myxine glutinosa Linnaeus) 16 



Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus) 18 



True fishes. Class Pisces 21 



Sharks and rays. Subclass Elasmobranchii 21 



Sharks '- 22 



The eel sharks. Family Chlainydoselachidae 24 



Eel shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus Garman) 24 



The smooth dogfishes. Family Galeorhinidae 25 



Smooth dogfish (Galeorhinus Ixvis Valmont) 25 



Requiem sharks. Family Carcharinidae 27 



Tiger shark (Galeocerdo arcticus Faber) 27 



Great blue shark (Galeus glaucus Linnaeus) 28 



Dusky shark {Carcharhinus obscurus LeSueur) 29 



The hammer-headed sharks. Family Cestraciontidae 30 



Hammerhead shark (Cestracion zygsena Linnaeus) 31 



The thresher sharks. Family Vulpeculidae 32 



Thresher ( Vulpecula marina Valmont) 32 



The sand sharks. Family Carchariid3e , 34 



Sand shark (Carcharias taunts Rafinesque) 34 



The mackerel sharks. Family Isuridae 35 



Mackerel shark (Isurus punctalus Storer) 36 



Sharp-nosed mackerel shark (Isurus tigris Atwood) 38 



White shark (Carcharodon carcharias Linnaeus) 39 



Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus Gunner) 41 



The spiny dogfishes. Family Squalidae 44 



Spiny dogfish {Squalus acanthias Linnaeus) 44 



Portuguese shark (Centroscymnus ccelolepis Bocage and Capello) 51 



Black dogfish (Centroscyllium fabricii Reinhardt) 52 



1 



