Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 129 



schools of scombroids, clupeids, or other small fishes, of which it destroys great quan- 

 tities. Around Bermuda, for example, it is seen most often when in pursuit of scombroids; 

 off the coast of the United States it has at least the reputation of following schools of mack- 

 erel. It also feeds on much larger fish. A 120-pound swordfish (Xiphias gladius) nearly 

 intact with sword still attached was found in the stomach of a 730-pound specimen taken 

 near Bimini. Another Mako of about 800 pounds, harpooned off Montauk, Long Island, 

 had been seen attacking a swordfish and was found, when landed, to contain about 150 

 pounds of its flesh. These instances illustrate its capabilities, and one well known angler 

 described it as the only marine enemy of the broadbill swordfish.'^ But there is no reason to 

 suppose from the nature of its teeth, or from repute, that it attacks sea turtles. Probably, 

 like most other pelagic sharks, it feeds also on squids when opportunity offers itself. 



Relation to Man. The flesh is sold in limited quantities, but the chief importance of 

 the species is as a game fish because of its famous habit of leaping when hooked, as men- 

 tioned above. In this respect, as well as in the fierceness of its resistance to capture, it falls 

 little or not at all behind its better known relative, glaucus, of New Zealand waters. 



Range. An oceanic species of the tropical and warm-temperate Atlantic, north and 

 south; it is replaced in the Pacific (including New Zealand and Australian waters) by the 

 closely allied but easily distinguishable I. glaucus (p. 124). The fact that the ranges of 

 glaucus and oxyrinchus appear to be continuous around the Cape of Good Hope, although 

 widely separated off the southern part of South America, lends special interest to the iden- 

 tity of any specimens that may be caught off the Cape. 



Occurrence in the Eastern Atlantic. In the eastern side of the Atlantic oxyrinchus is 

 known as far south as St. Helena and Ascension and northward to northern France; to 

 northern Scotland and southwestern Norway as a stray. Coastwise, however, its zone of 

 reasonably frequent occurrence appears to extend only from tropical West Africa to the 

 Iberian Peninsula, including the Mediterranean, whence it has been recorded repeatedly as 

 "common" or "abundant" from many localities. It is also known from the Azores, Madeira 

 and the Canaries, where it is said to be one of the commoner sharks, occasionally numerous 

 enough to be a great annoyance to net fishermen. This, together with its long known 

 presence in at least small numbers around Bermuda, shows that it is to be expected any- 

 where in the middle Atlantic. 



Occurrence in the Western Atlantic. For the western Atlantic only a very fragmentary 

 picture of the occurrence of this offshore shark could be deri\-ed from the captures reliably 

 reported in scientific literature, since these^^ total not over 20 to 25 distributed as follows: 

 off the tip of Cape Cod; 10 miles N.E. of Nantucket Lightship, Mass.; Long Island, New 

 York; vicinity of New York Harbor; coast of New Jersey; off Cape Hatteras, North 

 Carolina; western and northwestern Florida; east coast of Florida; Santa Rosa Island near 



35. See K. Farrington (Field and Stream, ^7, February 1943) for the instances mentioned above and for other 

 interesting notes on the Mako. 



36. It seems certain that at least most of the nominal records for this species in the Gulf of Maine and for the vicinity 

 of Woods Hole actually referred to L. nasus (p. 1 30) . 



