Coles — Notes on the Sharks and Rays of Cape Lookout, N. C. 01 



ones averaging 29 inches in length. I have often captured these fish with 

 rod and reel and find them very game figl iters. 



11. Alopias vulpes (Gmelin). 

 WHIP-TAIL SHARK; THRESHER SHARK. 



The first example of this specie.s in this region was recorded by Mr. 

 Lewis RadclifJe in April, 1913. Late in July, 1914, I saw a shark of this 

 easily identifiable species in the bight of Cape Lookout. Although I was 

 very close to it, I did not have my harpoons at hand and could not cap- 

 ture it. At the time of observation, it was feeding in shallow water by 

 throwing the fish to its mouth with its tail, and I saw one fisli, which it 

 failed to seize, thrown for a considerable distance, clear of the water. 



12. Carcharias littoralis (Mitchill). 



SAND-BAR SHARK. 



Not a regular habitant of this field. They occasionally arrive in large 

 schools, especially on the shoals extending out beyond Cape Lookout, 

 where they prove very troublesome to the blue-fish fishermen. This shark 

 works in a more systematic way in securing its food than any shark of 

 which I know. On one occasion I saw a school of a hundred or more 

 surround a school of blue-fish and force them into a solid mass in shallow 

 water, and then at the same instant the entire school of sharks dashed in 

 on the blue-fish. On another occasion with a large school of blue-fish in 

 my net, a school of these sharks attacked it from all sides and ate or 

 liberated the school of blue-fish, practically ruining the net. Again in 

 July, 1914, on Lookout Shoals, I had a large net filled with blue-fish 

 attacked by a school of about 200 of these vicious sharks and the net 

 ruined. I killed about twenty of them with harpoon and lance. Their 

 average length was slightly in excess of eight feet. Several of those ex- 

 amined contained many eggs and embryos of length of over nine inches. 



13. Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus). 



GREAT WHITE SHARK; MAN-EATER. 



In 1905, while out in a small skiff, harpooning turtles, a huge shark of 

 more than twenty feet in length appeared alongside, within reach of my 

 hand. It apparently had no fear of us, as it struck the side of the skiff 

 with some force. It then swam away for a distance of several hundred 

 yards, then turned and swam rapidly toward us. I was about to fire into 

 it as a large logger-head turtle arose to the surface and was attacked by 

 the shark. The shark seized the turtle in its jaws and both disappeared 

 beneath the surface. The next day I harpooned this turtle and found 

 the upper shell for a width of nearly thirty inches showing the marks of 

 the shark's teeth. The edge of the shell and the right hind flipper had 

 been torn away. In 1913 I observed three of these sharks and succeeded 

 in harpooning them, but my tackle was too light to hold them. While I 

 was unable to positively identify these sharks, I believe they were man- 

 eaters. 



