138 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



largest actually measured have been 21 feet^" and 17 to 19 feet in length. We should 

 perhaps caution the reader that estimates of the size of the larger sharks are frequently 

 much too high; e.g., an Australian specimen, reported in the local newspapers as 16 feet 

 long, actually measured only eight feet six inches.'^ On the other hand, the smallest free- 

 living specimen of which we find record was about 5 feet long." Among 44 other speci- 

 mens from various localities, of which measurements are available, 15 were between 6 and 

 8 feet; 7 between 8 and 10 feet; 9 between 10 and 12 feet; 7 between 12 and 14 feet; 

 4 between 14 and 16 feet; 2 between 16 and 18 feet. The two gravid females on record 

 were 14 feet 9 inches and 18 feet 4 inches (5.7 m.) in length; similarly the gonads of a 

 male of 14 feet 6 inches, taken off Salerno, Florida, were much enlarged, but other males 

 of 12 to 12V2 feet showed no signs of approaching maturity.'^ The fact that females of 

 8 feet 6 inches and 1 5 feet 6 inches have been reported as containing neither embryos nor 

 even enlarged ova suggests that sexual maturity is not usually reached at a length less than 

 perhaps 13 to 14 feet. That so few adults are captured anywhere is no doubt due to their 

 large size, great strength and formidable nature. 



Recorded weights of Atlantic specimens in relation to length are: 600 pounds at 8 

 feet 3 inches; 960 pounds at 9 feet 8 inches; 998 pounds at 12 feet; 940 pounds at 12 feet 

 2 inches; about 1,300 pounds at about 13 feet; and 7,100 pounds, with a liver of 1,005 

 pounds,^" at 21 feet (Cuban specimen mentioned above, see footnote 12, page 138); 

 also an estimated weight of 1,200 pounds for a specimen 12 feet 8 inches long. Weights of 

 Pacific specimens taken on the coast of the State of Washington are: 342 pounds at 8 feet 

 2 inches; between 800 and 1,000 pounds at about 12 feet; up to 2,000 to 2,400 pounds at 

 13 feet.^' A 5 foot 4 inch specimen from Catalina Island weighed 87 pounds.^* Australian 

 data'" show: 928 pounds at 1 1 feet 3 inches; 910 pounds at I2 feet 6 inches; 1,291 pounds 

 at 13 feet 6 inches; 1,334 pounds at 13 feet 5 inches; and 1,720 pounds at 15 feet 2 inches; 

 a South African specimen of only 13 feet 3 inches weighed 2,176 pounds.'" The variation 

 in weight at given lengths with differences in the condition of the individual specimens is 

 thus very wide, and increasingly so with growth. 



Develo-pmental Stages. No account of the developmental stages has yet appeared. 

 The few embryos so far reported have ranged in length from about 20 to 61.6 cm. A 

 Mediterranean specimen, probably of this species, contained nine young, each about two 

 feet long."^ 



12. Taken recently off Havana, Cuba, and reported to us by Luis Howell-Rivero. 



13. Madeay, Proc. Linn. See. N. S. W., ^, 1880: 459. 



14. Doderlein (Man. IttioL Medit., 2, 1881 ; 66) reports a specimen of .63 in., or about 2 feet, but this may have 

 been an embryo. 



15. Personal communication from Stewart Springer. 



16. We have received a good photograph, apparently of this specimen, with weight stated at 7,302 pounds, from 

 OUyandro del Valle. 



17. Bonham, Copeia, 1942: 264. 18. Personal communication from W. \. Follett. 

 19. Whitley, Fish. Aust., 1, 1940: 127. 20. London Illustr. News, July 14, 1928:53. 



21. Norniaii and Fraser, Giant Fishes, 1937: 18; but the stated weights of these embryos (about 100 pounds at a 

 length of two feet) were evidently in error. 



