Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 4.25 



Africa in the east (probably not the Mediterranean^") as well as on Pacific coasts of Amer- 

 ica from southern California to Ecuador."" Tiburo has also been reported by name' from 

 China"' and from the Philippines/' but without supporting evidence as to the identity of 

 the particular specimens in question; and since it is not included in any of the descriptive 

 surveys of the sharks of China, Australia, the Philippines or India that have appeared so 

 far, although it is not likely to be overlooked if at all common, we think its presence un- 

 likely in eastern Pacific or Indian waters. 



Occurrence in the Western Atlantic. This shark is known from so many localities from 

 southern Brazil to Florida, including the South American coastline, the West Indian- 

 Caribbean region as a whole, and the Gulf of Mexico," and so often reported as common 

 as to prove it not only generally distributed throughout this entire area but in fact one of 

 the more plentiful of littoral sharks there. No doubt it is also a year-round resident 

 throughout this belt, as it certainly is around southern Florida, except perhaps for mid- 

 summer. To the north of Florida, however, it occurs on the Atlantic coast only as a summer 

 visitor, common in the warm months between June and October on the coast of South 

 Carolina, where it has been characterized as one of the more abundant of summer sharks, 

 and as far as Beaufort, North Carolina. But few pass Cape Hatteras; it is taken only occa- 

 sionally in the pound nets in Chesapeake Bay, and it occurs only as a stray farther north, 

 being recorded once or twice in New Jersey waters, once at Newport, Rhode Island, and 

 once in Massachusetts Bay. We have also received a reliable report that about six speci- 

 mens, about four feet long, were taken in Nantucket Sound among the other species caught 

 in the shark fishery that was carried on there during the summer of 191 8."' 



Synonyms and References: 



Squalus tiburo Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., I, 1 758: 234 (descr., refs., Amer.) ; Syst. Nat., i, 1766: 399 (same 

 as foregoing); Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encyc. Meth. Ichthyol., 1 788: 9 (descr., S. Amer.); Gmelin, in 

 Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., / (3), 1 779: 1495 (same as Linnaeus, 1758, Amer. seas); Walbaum, P. Artedi 

 Genera Pise. Emend. Ichthyol., 3, 1792: 516 (diagn., refs.); Shaw and Nodder, Naturalist Misc., 7, 

 1795: pi. 229 (good ill., S. Amer. seas) ; Bloch and Schneider, Syst. Ichthyol., 1 801: 131 ; Bosc, Nouv. 

 Diet. Hist. Nat., 21, 1803: 189 (diagn.); Latreille, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., 24, 1 804: 72 (in table of 



19. The brief description by Rochebrune (Act. Soc. linn. Bordeaux, [4] 6, 1882: 44) of the head of the Sene^am- 

 bian shark, reported by him as Zygaena leeuivenii, suggests that he was actually dealing with tiburo. But we think 

 it improbable that it occurs in the Mediterranean, for while it is credited tentatively to the local fish fauna by 

 Doderlein (Man. Ittiol. Medit., 2, 18S1: 50), the few reports of it there or for southern Spain lack positive 

 evidence as to the specific identity of the specimens concerned. 



20. The eastern Pacific form has recently been made a separate species, vesfertina Springer (Stanford Ichthyol. Bull., 

 ' [sli 1940: 161) on the basis of a supposedly wider shovel than in tiburo relative to its length, longer rela- 

 tive distance between nostrils, higher first dorsal, shorter pectoral and longer caudal. But comparative measure- 

 ments show that there is no discontinuity in any of these respects between specimens from San Diego, California 

 or Panama and the extensive Atlantic series with which we have compared them. 



21. Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 8, 1870: 3S2; Elera, Cat. Fauna Filipp., i, 1895: 615. 



22. Localities of definite record from south to north are: Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio Parahyba 

 and Natal in Brazil; French Guiana; Trinidad; Colon; Progreso, Yucatan; Belize, British Honduras; Turks 

 Island; Cuba; the Bahamas; many localities along both coasts of Florida; several along the coasts of Louisiana 

 and Texas. 



13. Personal communication by R. H. Bodman, who operated the fishery. 



