Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 147 



Generic Characters. Those of the family. 



Range. Temperate belts of North and South Atlantic including the Mediterranean, 

 North and South Pacific and southern Indian Ocean. 



Fossil Gill Rakers. Oligocene to Pliocene, Europe. 



Species. Cetorhinus had long been thought to be monotypic, but Whitley" has re- 

 cently discussed its Australian representative under a name maccoyi Barrett," distinct 

 from that of its northern Atlantic representative niaxitnus. Comparison of Whitley's 

 photographs of an Australian specimen 25 feet long with a Massachusetts Bay specimen 

 of about the same size, and pictured below, suggests that a longer caudal and perhaps a 

 higher first dorsal may prove diagnostic for the former. If correct, this opens the whole 

 question of the specific relationship of the Basking Sharks of the western and eastern South 

 Atlantic' and of the northern and southeastern Pacific to the North Atlantic form. The 

 discontinuity of geographic distribution suggests that actually the genus may include 

 several species instead of one only. But definite decision must await critical comparison of 

 specimens from diflterent seas, or at least of comparable measurements and photographs. 



Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus), 1765 



Basking Shark, Bone Shark 



Figures 23, 24 



Study Material. Mounted specimens, about 26 feet 6 inches long (New Eng. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist.) and about 14 feet 6 inches, from New Jersey (Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.) ; head 

 of a 12-foot specimen from Fire Island, New Yorkj gills and gill rakers of another from 

 same locality (Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.)} excellent photographs of a specimen about 15 

 feet long taken off Jones Inlet, New York, June 20, 1941.* 



Distinctive Characters. The combination of lunate caudal, enormously long gill 

 openings, long rakers on the gill arches, very many minute teeth, and nostrils widely sepa- 

 rated from mouth, sets Cetorhinus apart from all other sharks. 



Description. Proportional dimensions in per cent of total length. Female, 4,400 mm. 

 (4,318 mm. between perpendiculars) from about 15 miles S by E of Long Branch, New 

 Jersey.^ 



lished illustrations of its cranium, vertebrae and pelvic skeleton (Barclay, Mem. Werner. Soc, i, 1811: 418). 

 But we agree with Norman ("Discovery" Rep., 16 [2], 1937: 7, footnote 2) that nothing would be gained by 

 abandoning a name as old and as generally used as Cetorhinus, at least until some modern student establishes, by 

 personal examination of the remains in question (if they are still in existence) , that they actually are those of a 

 Basking Shark and not of some other very large species. 



5. Fish. Aust., /, 1940: 132. 6. Sun-Nature Book, Pt. IV, Water Life, 1933: 13. 



7. Norman ("Discovery" Rep., 16, 1937: 7) had already suggested that the Falkland Island form may be distinct 

 from the northern. For a recent description of the South African form, see Barnard (Ann. S. Afr. Mus., j2 [2], 



>937:43)- 

 i. Received from New York Herald Tribune. 

 9. This specimen is mounted in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and the above proportions 



are based on measurements made by E. W. Gudger at the time of its capture. Measurements of body, fins and 



gills were made on the curvature. 



