Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 105 



Occurrence in the Western Atlantic. Next to the Smooth and Spiny Dogfishes (p. 

 466), the Sand Shark is probably the most abundant shark in season from Delaware Bay 

 northward to Cape Cod; in this region it is far more plentiful than it is anywhere in the 

 eastern Atlantic. Considerable numbers are caught all along the coast of New Jersey both 

 in the bays and outside; it is a common visitor yearly to the vicinity of New York, along 

 Long Island and presumably within Long Island Sound." It is common in summer in 

 Rhode Island waters, and it is fairly so around Block Island. So general is its occurrence 

 along the southern shores of Massachusetts, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, 

 that every local fisherman knows it well. As an example of its local numbers we may cite 

 the fact that a catch of about 1,900 sharks, made by three boats on Horseshoe Shoal in 

 Nantucket Sound from June to September, 19 18, consisted chiefly of this species.^" Simi- 

 larly, a catch of 350 sharks, made near Nantucket in the early 1920's, consisted of this 

 species with few exceptions."' It is also taken in some numbers yearly along the outer 

 shores of Cape Cod. But this marks the eastern boundary of its center of abundance, for 

 while it is recorded at various localities around Massachusetts Bay, these are occasional 

 specimens only. Only as a stray does it wander north of Cape Ann; it was reported once 

 from Casco Bay and once from St. Andrews, New Brunswick, at the mouth of the Bay 

 of Fundy. 



Our data are not adequate to describe its status from Delaware Bay southward. 

 It is reported from the Bay itself, both near the mouth at Bowers Beach and even from 

 the vicinity of Philadelphia at its head; likewise from the coast of Maryland, and 

 from Chincoteague and Smith Island in Virginia. However, these reports do not suggest 

 any great numbers. The survey of the fishes of Chesapeake Bay by the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries" did not yield even a single record, although it has been reported 

 there more recently. Nor does it appear with any regularity along North Carolina, al- 

 though large schools appear at times off Cape Lookout, and it rarely enters the local 

 sounds." On the other hand, it is described as one of the commonest summer sharks on the 

 South Carolina coast, near Charleston, with as many as six large specimens recorded from a 

 single net haul. It is taken on the east coast of Florida at all seasons, as at Salerno, near 

 Jupiter Inlet, where it appears irregularly in considerable numbers. However, it apparently 

 reaches the west coast of Florida as a stray only, but two specimens being known from En- 

 glewood, where the shark stock has been the subject of special investigation.^* It has been 

 taken off the northern Bahamas." We find no published report of it anywhere else for the 

 Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, Cuba, the Antilles, or for the Caribbean region, although 

 it is so easily recognizable and usually comes so close inshore that it could hardly have been 

 overlooked if it occurred with any regularity within these general areas. However, its 



19. The only published record of it in the Sound is for Clinton, Connecticut. 



20. Identity established by excellent photographs by R. H. Bodman, who reported this catch to us. 



21. Young and Mazet, Shark, Shark, 1933: 132. 



22. Hildebrand and Schroeder, Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., ^5, 1928. 



23. Only two specimens, both large, reported from Beaufort, N.C. 



24. Springer, Proc. Fla. Acad. Sci., 3, 1939: 34- ^S- Wise, Nat. Hist N.Y., 38, 1936: 322 (photo). 



