Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 269 



a little more than Vs as long on its anterior margin as the upper lobe. Anal about as long 

 as 2nd dorsal at base, and slightly higher vertically, but with posterior margin much more 

 deeply concave and free rear tip a little shorter relatively, its rear tip a little posterior to 

 rear tip of 2nd dorsal. Pelvics with nearly straight edges and narrowly rounded corners. 

 Pectoral about M; ^s long as head, or a little longer than ist dorsal and a little larger in 

 area, about Vi; ^s broad as long, with moderately convex outer margin, moderately and 

 evenly concave inner margin, and narrowly rounded corners. 



Color. Gray or grayish brown, darker above than on sides and belly; small specimens 

 up to about five or six feet long are more or less prominently marked on back with darker 

 brown spots, often fusing irregularly into oblique or transverse bars on the sides and fins, 

 sometimes surrounded with pale reticulations; but these markings fade with growth, 

 leaving the larger specimens only faintly marked on the caudal peduncle, or even plain- 

 colored in some cases. 



Size. This is one of the sharks to which a gigantic size (up to 30 feet in length) has 

 been accredited. However, the majority of specimens that are taken in its centers of 

 abundance are less than 12 to 13 feet long.'" The longest of which we find positive record 

 within recent years in the western Atlantic have been a Cuban specimen of about 1 8 feet,* 

 and one of 1 5 feet 2 inches from South Carolina.^ The weight at different lengths varies 

 with fatness, and with the stage of development of the embryos in gravid females. Aus- 

 tralian specimens are reported as weighing 7 10 to 825 pounds at 1 1 to 12 feet, 850 to 1,324 

 pounds at 12 to 13 feet, and 1,028 to 1,395 pounds at 13 to 14 feet;" recorded weights 

 from the Pacific coast of Central America are 37 pounds at 5 feet 4 inches (1,625 mm.), 

 366 pounds at 10 feet i inch (3,073 mm.), 505 pounds at 10 feet 6 inches (3,200 mm.), 

 and 780 pounds at 12 feet 9 inches. One 1,368 mm. long from Woods Hole, Mass., 

 weighed 25% pounds, fresh. And there is no reason to suppose that the weights of larger 

 Atlantic specimens would be different at equal lengths from Pacific examples, although 

 they have been previously estimated as somewhat less.^^ 



Although they may grow very large, Tiger Sharks are comparatively small at birth 

 corresponding to the large numbers produced at one time, free-living specimens having 

 been recorded as small as 1 8 to 19 inches. 



Developmental Stages. Development is ovo viviparous; the embryos have no placen- 

 tal connection with the mother. The broods are very large, gravid females having been re- 

 ported repeatedly as containing as many as 30 to 50 embryos, some more nearly ready for 

 birth than others; recently we have received an account of an 18-foot Cuban specimen 



7a. Stewart Springer informs us that none of the many measured by him in Florida waters were as long as 14 feet. 



8. Personal communication from Luis Howell-Rivero. 



9. Burton, Copeia, 1941:40. 10. Whitley, Fish. Aust., /, 1940: 113. 



II. 450 to 636 pounds at 11 to 12 feet (Bell and Nichols, Copeia, 92, 1921: 17; Nichols and Breder, Zoologica, 

 N.Y., 9, 1927: 15). The following weights are also mentioned, without locality; 58.8 pounds at 5 feet 2 inches, 

 168.4 pounds at 6 feet, 718.3 pounds at lo feet 8 inches (Schultz, J. Mammal., tg, 1938: 484). 



