I'lO 



Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Pensacola, Florida; Cuba; Gulf of Mexico; Havana, Cuba; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Ber- 

 muda. A shark taken in 1927 off Mar del Plata, in northern Argentine waters," probably 

 belonged to this species also. 



Fortunately, however, there is now available a much more extensive source of infor- 

 mation in the published and verbal reports of anglers, since oxyrinchus is a favorite game 

 fish. From these it is well known to be tolerably plentiful in the winter on the Bahaman 

 side of the Straits of Florida, where many are caught off Bimini, Cat Key and Nassau, 

 but it is less frequent on the Florida side, although it is a familiar fish there. Also, in the 

 summer considerable numbers journey northward along the continental shelf as far as the 

 offings of Maryland, New Jersey, New York and southern New England, although they 

 rarely, if ever, come close enough inshore to be picked up in the pound nets. Perhaps they 

 never penetrate far into inlets. However, to keep offshore is not an invariable part of its 

 behavior pattern, for on the tropical coast of West Africa it has been reported from sundry 

 estuarine situations. During the past few summers we have heard repeatedly of "Makos" 

 seen jumping, or occasionally hooked, near the tip of Cape Cod. Recently a large one 

 (about 9 feet long) was caught on the southern side of Massachusetts Bay a few miles 

 off Plymouth.'* It is thus evident that at least scattered individuals enter the south- 

 western part of the Gulf of Maine, probably in pursuit of the schools of mackerel, but 

 it appears that this is its extreme northerly outpost in inshore waters on this side of the 

 Atlantic. The sundry early reports that ostensibly referred to it farther north in the Gulf 

 of Maine all appear to have been based on its close relative, nasus (p. 118). Apparently 

 it rarely if ever occurs in water colder than about 60°. But it would not be astonishing if it 

 were encountered farther north, offshore, in the sweep of the Gulf Stream, although there 

 is as yet no positive record of it either from the Nova Scotian Banks or from the Banks of 

 Newfoundland. 



Except for its presence in Bahaxnan waters, knowledge of it in the southern part of 

 its western Atlantic range is very scant, but the records for western and northwestern 

 Florida and Cuba,'" together with evidence from recently-received photographs of one 

 from southern Texas (Cameron County), is evidence that it ranges over the Gulf of 

 Mexico generally, and in all probability over the entire Caribbean region. But information 

 as to its occurrence off the South American seaboard is limited to the one positive record for 

 Rio de Janeiro, and one probable record for northern Argentina." 



Synonyms and References: 



Isurus ox-jrinchu! Rafinesque, Caratt. Gen. Nuov. Sicil., 1 8 10: 12, pi. 13, fig. I (type loc, Sicily); Fowler, 

 Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist., yo (l), 1936: 33 (West Africa, descr.) ; Tortonese, Atti Soc. ital. Sci. nat., 



37. Pictured and described by Lahille (An. Mus. nac. B. Aires, ^4, 1929: 310) as "Lamia nasus." But his illustration 

 (p. 311, fig. 10) shows the origin of the first dorsal as being over the inner corner of the pectoral, the second 

 dorsal as slightly in advance of the anal, and the lower caudal lobe as only slightly shorter than the upper, as in 

 oxyrlnclius, while his statement that the teeth have lateral denticles appears to refer to the species nana as a whole, 

 rather than to the particular specimen. 



38. Personal communication from W. J. Mixter in the late summer of 1941. 



39. Luis Howell-Rivero writes us that it is always taken offshore there. 



