300 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Habits. This little shark is often taken along the beach, even in the surf, as well as in 

 harbors and partially enclosed sounds and estuaries. In fact, so far as we are aware it has 

 never been reported more than a mile or two out from the land or from water more 

 than a few fathoms deep. It occurs in brackish water in Mississippi (Pascagoula River) and 

 even in tidal fresh water elsewhere. 



It feeds chiefly on small fish that may be available locally; in North Carolina waters, 

 for example, its stomach is often full of menhaden {Brevoortia) ; parrotfish have been 

 found in its stomach in Haitian waters. It is also known to eat shrimps and moUusks, and 

 it bites readily on almost any bait. 



It is probable that young are born chiefly in late spring and summer in the northern 

 sector of its range, for newborn specimens still showing traces of the umbilical scar have 

 been reported from Florida in July, when they are common in Texan waters also;" they 

 are abundant off the mouth of the Mississippi in August, and in June and July in North 

 Carolina waters, where gravid females containing both eggs and late-term embryos are 

 reported in August. All that is known of its breeding in more tropical waters is that newly 

 born specimens have been reported from Haiti in early April, and that pregnant females 

 with as many as twelve embryos are taken around Cuba.^* 



Relation to Other Species. It closely resembles S. longurio Jordan and Gilbert of the 

 Pacific coasts of Mexico and Panama, but it is separable from the latter by the facts that 

 its upper labial furrow is definitely shorter than the diameter of the eye (as long, or longer 

 in longurio) and that it has only 25 rows of teeth in the upper jaw (27 to 29 rows in 

 longurio'). 



Relation to Man. The only commercial value of this little Shark is that some are 

 sold in fish markets in the West Indies and perhaps in South America. On the other hand, 

 its habit of taking the bait intended for better fish makes it a great nuisance to the fisher- 

 men at times and places where it is numerous. 



Range. Both sides of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic; Morocco to Cameroon and 

 the Cape Verde Islands in the east; Uruguay to North Carolina in the west, and north 

 accidentally to the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. 



Occurrence in the Western Atlantic. The chief center of abundance of this Shark 

 appears to lie in the West Indian-Caribbean region and in the Gulf of Mexico, whence it 

 has been recorded at many localities" as plentiful. For example, considerable numbers are 

 caught by the Louisiana shrimp-trawlers, and it is present throughout the year around 

 southwestern Florida and among the Keys. However, to the northward it is chiefly a sum- 

 mer visitor only, present in abundance off the mouth of the Mississippi from June until 

 September, and the commonest summer shark along South Carolina and the southern part 



13. One small collection of sharks taken in the vicinity of Galveston, Texas, in July included eleven S. terrae-novae, 

 ranging in size from 280 to 407 mm., all with a more or less conspicuous umbilical scar. 



14. Personal communication from Luis Howell-Rivero. 



15. Venezuela, Yucatan, Colon, Curasao, Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Puerto Cabello, Saba, St. Croix, 

 Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Bahamas, Florida Keys, western and northwestern Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas. 



