360 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



(Prionodon) lamia" has been said to run up into fresh water in Senegal," there is no 

 way of knowing whether this report (by name only) actually referred to longimanus or to 

 some other carcharhinid, the latter being more likely. In the Mediterranean it is often 

 mentioned as entering the tuna nets close to land and as being common offshore. 



It is not possible as yet to relate its geographical distribution to physical factors in a 

 satisfactory way. Although it has never been reported reliably in the western Atlantic in 

 temperatures lower than about 21 to 22° C. or 70 to 71.5° F. (Bahamas, March 19 14), 

 it is described in the Mediterranean around Sicily as caught most often in winter,*" «.<?., 

 when the water is only about 13 to 15° C. (about 55.5 to 59° F.). Hence, its failure to visit 

 the coasts of the eastern United States in summer (see below) is less likely to be due to 

 unfavorable temperature than to low salinity, for it occurs chiefly where the water is more 

 saline than 35.5 per mille, or even more than 36 per mille. If such is the case, it is excep- 

 tional among sharks. 



In the Mediterranean it is said to destroy large numbers of fish 5 we know from per- 

 sonal experience that it takes a large bait readily, and it is so well armed that it would not 

 be astonishing if it preyed on large as well as small fishes, or on sea turtles. But no precise 

 information is available as to its diet. 



Of its breeding habits it is only known that a female, caught off the north coast of 

 Cuba in May (see Study Material, p. 354), contained six embryos. 



Relation to Man. This species has never been of commercial importance anywhere. 

 On the other hand, it has been accused vaguely of being a man-eater, but we do not know 

 on what evidence. 



Range. Tropical and subtropical Atlantic. In the east it is well known in the Mediter- 

 ranean and along the Iberian peninsula, and is reported by name from off Cape Verde," 

 where it is certainly to be expected, and from Senegalj*' but it seems likely that its re- 

 ported occurrence in the latter region refers in part to some other shark (see discussion of 

 its reputed presence in fresh water there, p. 360). In the west its normal zone of occur- 

 rence is from Uruguay and southern Brazil to the more northerly waters of the West 

 Indies, and thence northward in the Gulf Stream, perhaps to the ofiing of southern New 

 England. The species "lamia" has also been reported from various localities in the Pacific 

 and Indian Oceans, Australia and Red Sea.°^ All but one of these reports are by name only, 

 however, hence they afford no clue regarding the actual species of Carcharhinus ; and even 

 that one°' seems actually to have referred to C. brachyurus (Giinther), 1 870, the "Whaler" 



59. Steindachner, S. B. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 61 (i), 1870: 576. 



60. Doderlein, Man. Ittiol. Medit., 2, 1881:41. 



61. Steindachner, S. B. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 61 (i), 1870: 576 (Senegal, in fresh water); Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. 

 Wien, 44, 1882: 51 (Senegambia) J Rochebrune, Act. Soc. linn. Bordeaux, (4) 6, 1882: 19 (Cape Verde, 

 Senegal) . 



62. For a list of these records, see Fowler (Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 100 [/j], 1941: 169) in synonymy of Eulamia 

 lamia. 



63. Phillipps, N. Z. J. Sci. Tech., 6, 1924: 260, fig. 3 ; we may point out that his illustration (fig. 3) is apparently 



