SHARKS 45 



prepared, this has a high medicinal value comparable to that 

 of the best cod-liver oil. The fins can be dried and used for 

 soup. The meat can be cut up and dried or salted for food, 

 and the remainder of the carcase can be converted into 

 fertilizer or into a high-grade poultry food. 



The Tiger Shark provides good, if somewhat strenuous 

 sport for the sea angler, and examples up to 600 lb. in weight 

 are regularly caught with hand lines from the pier at Durban, 

 Natal. The record Tiger Shark taken on rod and line weighed 

 298 lb. 



The scientific name, Galeocerdo, is derived from two Greek 

 words, one meaning " a kind of shark " and the other " fox " 

 or " weasel " 



TOPES. 

 (Genus Eugaleus.) PI. V d. 



Similar in appearance to the Blue Sharks. The teeth are 

 alike in the two jaws, in which they are set obliquely ; each 

 tooth is notched and has a fine saw-edge. There is no pit at 

 the root of the caudal fin, which is rather short. The colora- 

 tion is brownish or dusky grey above, becoming paler beneath ; 

 the greater part of each pectoral fin, the front parts of both 

 dorsal fins and the tip of the caudal are black. 



The common species grows to a length of 6 or 7 feet, the 

 Japanese species much larger. 



The Tope (E. galeus) is almost cosmopolitan in its distribu- 

 tion, and is abundant on parts of the coasts of the British 

 Isles The so-called " Oil Shark " or " Soup-fin Shark " of 

 California is probably the same species. There is another 

 species [E. japonicus), found only in the seas of Japan. 



The Topes are fierce and voracious Sharks, and recognized 

 enemies of commercial fishermen. From the fact that it 

 frequently takes the baits from their lines and is only very 

 rarely entangled in their drift-nets, it may be inferred that 

 the Tope normally swims and feeds near the bottom. Its 

 food consists of small fishes, crustaceans, starfish and shellfish, 

 and it is by no means averse to dead food. 



The young are produced alive during the months of June, 

 July, August and September, and from 20 to 50 have been 



