FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



55 



goose e^s) all at about one stage of development,*' has led to the common belief 

 in Iceland that it is oviparous. For ourselves, it seems so unlikely that, of two 

 sharks closely alUed in every way, one should retain the fetuses in the oviducts 

 until they are of considerable size and fully developed, and the other lay eggs, 

 that we incline to the belief that the Greenland shark ■ftdll also prove to be 

 viviparous. 



Commercial importance. — Were the nurse more plentiful in our waters it might 

 be a useful scavenger. Off Iceland it is caught for its liver oil, and in the Arctic 

 the flesh is dried for dog food. It is very interesting to note in passing that while 

 the meat is perfectly wholesome when dried, it produces a sort of intoxicant poison- 

 ing when eaten fresh.*' 



THE BRAMBLE SHARKS. FAMILY ECHINORHINID^ 



The only living representative of this family (it is represented among the 

 tertiary sharks) resembles the nurse-shark family (p. 53) in lacking both anal 

 fin and dorsal spines, but its teeth aie alike in the two jaws. 



19. Bramble shark (EcMnorhinus hrucus Bonnaterre) 



Jordan and Evermann {E. spinosus), 1896-1900, p. 58. 

 Garman, 1913, p. 243. 



Description. — As pointed out above, the location of the first dorsal fin, above 

 the ventrals instead of about midway between the latter and the pectorals, is 



Fki. 21.— Bramble shark (Echinorhinui irucus) 



the readiest field mark to enable separation of this form from the Greenland 

 shark. Brucus also differs from the latter in its more slender form, longer gill 

 slits, and especially in the fact that the teeth are alike instead of unlike in the two 

 jaws. 



Size. — The largest (a specimen from British waters) of which we have found 

 a record was 9 feet long, and it has been credited with a weight of 400 pounds. 



" Smitt (Scandinavian Fishes, 1892) describes one with "innumerable" small eggs and discusses this question, and Helbing 

 (Nova .\cta, Kaiserlichen Leop.-Carol. Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher, vol 82, 1904) has recently given a good 

 description and figures of fetuses of Somniosus brevipinna (as Lsemargus rostratiia), with a discussion of the relationship of this 

 species to the Greenland shark (as L^margus borealis). 



« This is described by Jensen in " The Selachians of Greenland." Saertryk af Mindeskrift for Jepetus Steenstrup, pp. 12-14, 

 1914. Translation by A. H. Clark, Science, New Series, Vol. XLI, Jan.-June, 1915, p. 796. 



