14 GIANT FISHES 



co. Mayo. The Mako is still more famous as a game-fish, 

 and in New Zealand waters provides strenuous and exciting 

 sport. The world's record Mako Shark captured by fair 

 angling stands to the credit of Mr. White-Wickham. It was 

 taken in the Bay of Islands in January, 1931, was 11 feet 

 6 inches in length, and weighed 798 lb. 



The scientific name Lamna is derived from a Greek word for 

 a horrible monster of man-eating tendencies, a creature used 

 by the ancient Greeks to terrify naughty children. The 

 term " Porbeagle " is simply a combination of porpoise and 

 beagle, and refers to the porpoise-like appearance and active, 

 predaceous habits. 



GREAT WHITE SHARK OR MAN-EATER. 



(Genus Carcharodon.) Fig. 13. 



Similar in appearance to the Porbeagles and Mako Sharks, 

 but may be readily distinguished by the large, flat, triangular 

 teeth, with fine, saw-like edges (Fig. 59). The coloration is 

 bluish-grey or slaty grey above, shading to white beneath ; 

 the fins are nearly all darker towards their edges. 



Grows to a length of 40 feet or more. 



The single living species (C. rondeleti) is found in all the 

 warm seas of the world, ' and occasionally strays into more 

 temperate waters. 



The Great White Shark, sometimes called the White Pointer, 

 is just as swift and fierce as the Porbeagles, but is very much 

 larger and more powerful. The huge, strong jaws, with their 

 jagged knife-like teeth, are truly formidable weapons. There is 

 a pair of jaws in the British Museum collection which belonged 

 to a shark 36 feet in length, and the largest single tooth in 

 either jaw is nearly 3 inches long. The " Challenger " Expedi- 

 tion dredged some teeth from the floor of the Pacific Ocean 

 which measured no less than 5 inches in length, and these 

 must have belonged to a shark nearly 100 feet long. Fossil 

 teeth from the rocks of the Eocene period and later are even 

 larger, and indicate that veritable monsters must have roamed 

 the seas in these times. 



The food of the Great White Shark consists mainly of fishes of 



