328 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



about 1.3 times as long at base as anal, their margins nearly straight. Pectoral about % 

 (about 67% ) as long as head, and about 1.7 times as long as broad, its outer margin strongly 

 convex in young but decreasingly so with growth, the distal margin concave for its entire 

 length, most deeply so in young, the inner margin weakly convex, tip subacute, inner 

 corner rounded. 



Color. Described as variable in lifej some specimens cream-colored or yellowish gray 

 above, and of a paler shade of the same, or white, below; others uniform brown below as 

 well as above; the fins are without markings but the tip of the snout is dusky, this nose- 

 spot being strongest in the young, becoming diffuse or even obscure in adults. 



Size. This is one of the smaller members of the genus, maturing while still no longer 

 than three feet four inches to four feet six inches, and perhaps seldom exceeding a length 

 of five to six feet. To judge from our Study Material (p. 325) the usual length at birth 

 is not far from 450 mm. 



Developmental Stages. It is not known whether or not there is a yolk-sac placenta in 

 this species. 



Habits. Nothing definite is known of its diet or habits beyond the fact that females, 

 with embryos (usually three to six) nearly ready for birth, have been taken oflF south- 

 western Florida from January to April. It is often found in the stomachs of larger sharks. 



Relation to Man. It is not nvimerous enough anywhere to be of any commercial im- 

 portance, or of interest to anglers. 



Range. Western tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Rio de Janeiro to North Carolina. 

 The southwestern coast of Florida is the only region where this species has been reported 

 in any numbers. It is also known from Rio de Janeiro, from Cuba, from the north coast 

 of the Gulf of Mexico (Biloxi, Mississippi, one specimen), and from North Carolina, 

 where stray specimens have been taken from time to time. This suggests that its center of 

 abundance lies in the Florida-West Indies region, probably including the southern part 

 of the Caribbean generally and northern coasts of South America to Brazil. 



Synonyms and References: 



Squalus acronotus Poey, Memorias, 2, i860: 335, pi. 19, fig. 3, 4 (descr., teeth, Cuba). 



Platyfodon acronotus Poey, Repert. Fisico.-Nat. Cuba, 2, 1868: 450 (Cuba); An. Soc. esp. Hist, nat., 5, 



1876: 389; Enumerat. Pise. Cubens., 1876: 193 (Cuba). 

 Carcharias {Prionodon) acronotus Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 8, 1 870: 369 (Cuba). 

 Carcharhinus {Pktyfodon) acronotus Jordan and Evermann, Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish. (1895), 1 896: 216 



(Cuba); Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 47 (i), 1896: 36 (descr., Cuba). 

 Carcharinus acronotus Garman, Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. Zool., 36, 1913: 136 (descr., Cuba); Gudger, 



J. Elisha Mitchell sci. Soc, 28, 1913: 158 (N. Carolina); Coles, Proc. biol. Soc. Wash., 28, 1915: 



go (N. Carolina) ; Radcliffe, Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., 5^, 1916: 259, pi. 41, fig. I, 2 (denticles, teeth, N. 



Carolina); Smith, J. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist., t6, 1916: 348 (Cuba, N. Carolina); Nichols, Bull. Amer. 



Mus. nat. Hist., 37, 1917: 875, pi. Ill, fig. 2 (south. Florida); Breder, Field Bk. Mar. Fish. Atlant. 



Coast, 1929: 16 (Florida, W. Indies) ; White, Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist., ■J4, 1937: 127, pi. 50, fig. d 



(in Key, cartilages of claspers) ; Springer, Proc. Fla. Acad. Sci., 5, 1 939: 21 (Florida, embryos, color); 



Hildebrand, Copeia, 1941: 221 (N. Carolina); Lunz, Bull. S. Carolina St. Planning Bd., 14, 1944: 27 



(Florida). 



