On 29 June 1979 Captain Thomas Cashman 

 from the charter boat Rogue harpooned a male 

 white shark (457 cm TL) while it fed on a 14-15 m 

 dead and floating fin whale 24 km southwest of 

 Moriches Inlet, N.Y., (lat. 40°32' N, long. 

 72°50' W) in 35-40 m of water. The white shark 

 landed at Center Moriches, N.Y., weighed 2,075 

 lb (943 kg). The following morning we photo- 

 graphed, measured, and dissected the specimen. 

 Morphometric measurements for both speci- 

 mens (Table 1) follow the conventions of Bigelow 

 and Schroeder (1948). 



Biological Observations 



Maturity. — The male white shark was sexually 

 mature judging from the condition of the 40 cm 

 claspers (Clark and von Schmidt 1965). The well- 

 developed testes and spermatophores in the 

 lower ductus deferens (Pratt 1979) provided 

 additional evidence of fecund male maturity. 

 The female was immature judging from the 

 small size of the oviducts (approximately 1 cm in 

 diameter). 



Table 1.— Morphometric measurements of body parts with 

 proportional dimensions as percent of total length. 



'Female measured in inches and converted 



Calculated from total length using 92.5% (mean derived from author's 

 unpubl data). 

 3 Estimate. 



Stomach Contents and Liver. — The male's 

 stomach and its contents weighed 52 kg when 

 separated at the esophagus. Fifteen "bite-sized" 

 pieces of whale blubber and muscle, 18-60 cm in 

 diameter, in the stomach weighed 28 kg. The 

 largest piece measured 60 X 30 X 10 cm. The 

 stomach, distended and taut, appeared filled 

 nearly to capacity. The liver was large, light- 

 colored, and robust. Both lobes together weighed 

 178.9 kg. 



Parasites. — Circumstances did not permit an 

 exhaustive search for parasites; however, one 

 copepod species, Dinemoura latifolia, was 

 collected from the lateral surface of the caudal 

 fin of the male. 



Behavior. — One of us (R. B. Conklin) observed at 

 least four and possibly as many as nine white 

 sharks intermittently for 30 h (28-29 June 1979) 

 in the vicinity of the dead fin whale. No more 

 than two ever occurred together, and these 

 appeared agonistic. On one occasion a 3-4 m 

 white shark with a tooth slash over the gills 

 approached the fin whale, then quickly changed 

 direction and disappeared without feeding. This 

 may have been an evasive action because seconds 

 later a much larger male (5-6 m) appeared in the 

 same place and began feeding on the fin whale. 

 Some of the white sharks observed around the fin 

 whale, including the harpooned male, had either 

 fresh or healed tooth slashes on their sides, 

 between the gills and caudal peduncle. These are 

 probably not the mating cuts reported for other 

 shark species (Stevens 1974; Pratt 1979), since 

 they occurred on males and immature females. 

 The tooth slashes and cuts observed on these 

 white sharks are most likely inflicted on co- 

 specifics while competing for prey. 



Feeding behavior was observed on four 

 occasions and probably involved different 

 sharks. In three of the four contacts the white 

 shark rolled and attacked with its ventral 

 surface up (Figure 1). After the teeth were in the 

 fin whale carcass, the white shark rolled upright 

 thrashing its tail and cleanly cut away a 

 mouthful of blubber. This behavior was charac- 

 teristic of attacks on intact parts of the fin whale 

 near the waterline. On the fourth occasion the 

 white shark fed in an upright swimming 

 position, biting on a broad piece of floating flesh. 



Fishermen and film makers visited the fin 

 whale each day from 1 to 6 July to observe and 

 photograph the white sharks. Each morning a 



154 



