SHARKS 49 



form the cutting edges. The spiracles are of moderate size 

 and the external gill-clefts small. The 2 dorsal fins are without 

 spines, about equal in size, and both small ; the first is placed 

 about midway between the pectoral and pelvic fins. The 

 caudal fin is short and deep. The pectoral fins are small. The 

 skin is uniiormly covered with tiny denticles. The coloration 

 is slaty grey or black above, shading away to paler beneath. 



Said to grow to a length of 20 feet, but the average size is 

 about 8 to 12 feet. 



The Greenland Shark (S. microcephalus) is found in most 

 arctic and northern seas, and ranges southwards to Cape 

 Cod and France in the Atlantic, and to Oregon and Japan in 

 the Pacific. The species from the Mediterranean (5. rostratus) 

 is very closely related and ma}' eventually prove to be iden- 

 tical. A few years ago a member of this genus was found near 

 Macquarie Island, south of New Zealand, but it is not certain 

 whether this is the same as the Greenland Shark or whether 

 it is a distinct species. The Greenland Shark is not uncommon 

 in our own waters, especially in the neighbourhood of Scotland. 



This is a clumsy creature, and quite the most sluggish of 

 the larger sharks. It seems to spend most of its time at or 

 near the sea bottom, only coming to the surface in search of 

 carrion food. As soon as winter is over the young sharks 

 move into the shallower coastal waters, followed a little later 

 on by the adults, but in September they retire once more 

 into the depths. Greenland Sharks feed mainly upon seals 

 and fishes, although crabs are also eaten. It is remarkable 

 that so sluggish a creature is able to pursue and to catch 

 living seals. Carrion and offal of all kinds have an irresistible 

 attraction for them, and the more putrid the meal the better 

 it seems to be relished. The sense of hearing as well as that 

 of smell is very acute, and the sharks are readily attracted to 

 the scene of a seal hunt or the cutting up of a whale. The 

 Greenland Shark abounds among the refuse of the salmon 

 canneries in Alaska, and its habit of feeding upon fish offal 

 on the New England coast has earned for it the name of 

 " Gurry Shark ". One individual examined had nearly a 

 whole reindeer in its stomach, and one of the older writers on 

 the fishes of Iceland relates that when horses used to venture 

 on to thin ice and were drowned Greenland Sharks would 



