214 SHAKE FISHEKIES IN ICELAND. 



13ft., SO that tlie Lossiemouth fishermen have captured 

 an unusually large one. It is exceedingly common on 

 the north and east coasts of Iceland, and is known there 

 as the hakare. In the Iceland seas its average length 

 is from 17ft. to 19ft., hut attains at times a length of 

 24ft. Its liver yields ahout seventy gallons of oil. Un- 

 like the other northern sharks, who feed principally 

 on small fish, crustaceans, and jellyfish (Medusae) the 

 Scymnns attack and tear all sorts of cetaceans and pho- 

 ciedians, and devour the dead floating carcases of every 

 sort of animal that may come in their way — horseflesh 

 proving a very attractive hait wherewith to catch them. 

 They even consider one of their own species a ' dainty 

 dish.' The body of the fish, besides being eaten by the 

 Icelanders, yields oil, but small in quantity to that pro- 

 duced by its liver, and far inferior to the same in 

 marketable value. Shark fishing is prosecuted to a 

 considerable extent in Iceland in small-decked fore-and- 

 aft rigged schooners, the oil being exported to the 

 Em'opean continent. The shark fishing stations in 

 Iceland where the oil is prepared are a novel sight to 

 tourists, but on a visit I found them far from inviting. 

 They were redolent of questionable scents, the putrid 

 flesh or fish of the sharks lying scattered about in all 

 directions." Our correspondent adds, " the writer in 

 the Elgin paper clearly indicates the species, but it is 

 much to be regretted writers in local papers do not 

 endeavour to give the scientific name of any rare find. 

 Popular names frequently dift'er in difterent localities, 

 while not uufrequently the name given in one locality 

 to a particular species is in another applied to a diife- 

 rent species, or to a different fish altogether." 



The Basking Shark (Squalus viaxinius) — named Bask- 

 ing from its remaining at the surface of the water 



