FISHES OF NEW YORK 27 



'C'archarliiinis mUbertl Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Miis. 37, 



1890; Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. for 1897, 88, 1898. 

 ■Small blue shark Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I. 487, 1815. 

 Lamna caiuMta De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 354, pi. 62, fig. 205, 1842. 



Body stout, its depth one fifth of the length without caudal; 

 head two sevenths of total length to caudal, base, snout promi- 

 nent, pointed, broad, thin, and firm, its length from mouth 

 equal to width of mouth; distance between nostrils two thirds 

 length of snout; upper teeth very broad, triangular, erect, ser- 

 rate on both edges, without notch; lower teeth narrower and 

 more finely serrated; gill openings comparatively narrow; first 

 dorsal begins close behind origin of pectoral, its hight somewhat 

 greater than its base and equals one half interspace between 

 dorsals; second dorsal very small, its base one fifth interspace 

 between dorsals; caudal moderate, its length contained two and 

 two thirds times in length of bodj', its lower lobe less than one 

 half as long as the upper; pectorals rather small, not falcate, 

 the length contained three and one half times in total length 

 without caudal. 



The young are slate blue on the upper parts, the same color 

 but less pronounced on the sides, and the lower parts whitish; 

 adults are uniform bluish gray above, lighter on the sides of 

 head and body, white beneath, the iris greenish blue. Some 

 examples taken at Woods Hole Mass. in 1873, were said to be of 

 an intense almost indigo blue. 



The blue shark occurs along our east coast in summer from 

 Cape Cod to Florida. Young examples are not uncommon in 

 the waters of New York. An example taken at Brenton's reef, 

 on the coast of Rhode Island, measured 7 feet, 4 inches and 

 weighed 161 pounds. 



Mitchill states that it is often taken by nets in New York 

 waters, as it commonlv bites off the line when hooked. Indi- 

 Tiduals seen by him were 4 or 5 feet long, De Kay refers to this 

 shark a second time under the name long-tailed porbeagle, of 

 which he saw several young from New York harbor and an adult 

 from Brenton's reef, on the coast of Rhode Island. 



