5o6 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Habits. In its centers of abundance in the eastern Atlantic this shark is taken most 

 often in at least moderately deep water. OS Nice, on the Mediterranean coast of France, 

 it was long ago described as commonly caught at i,ooo meters depth; other depth records 

 are from 300 to 600 meters and many have been taken on the Irish Atlantic slope between 

 200 and 350 fathoms (366 to 640 m.)/' But since the Georges Bank specimen was taken in 

 only 50 fathoms, with report of at least one other on the beach at Madeira," it is apparent 

 that it is not confined exclusively to deep water, and its New Zealand representative is also 

 occasionally washed ashore. Gravid females are taken throughout the year in the Medi- 

 terranean. Nothing whatever is known of its feeding habits, although the nature of its 

 teeth, and the fact that Mediterranean ones have been commonly caught on hook and 

 line, suggest a fish diet. 



Relation to Man. It is of relatively little commercial importance at present, but 

 in the Azores it is the object of a special fishery for leather; formerly its skin was prized 

 as an abrasive by cabinet makers and jewelers. 



Range. In the eastern Atlantic from Rio de Oro, the Canaries, Madeira, Morocco, 

 Azores and western Mediterranean north to the Irish Atlantic slope; plentiful locally 

 (perhaps periodically) off the Mediterranean coasts of France and Portugal, as well as on 

 the fishing grounds west of Ireland. There is but one record for the western Atlantic (see 

 below). If is represented off South Africa, in the New Zealand-Australian region and in 

 Japanese waters by allies so close that they appear to be identical with the Atlantic form 

 (p. 501), 



Occurrence in the Western Atlantic. The only record of the capture of this shark in 

 the western Atlantic is the female here pictured (Figs. 96, 97), about five feet long, taken 

 on the northern edge of Georges Bank in 50 fathoms on August 19, 1937." 



Synonyms and References: 



1. North Atlantic: 



La liche, Broussonet, Mem. Math. Phys. Acad. Sci. Paris, 1780: 677 (C. Breton, France); Duhamel, Traite 



Gen. Pcches, 4, 1782: 301, 328 (descr.). 

 Squalus licha Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encyc. Meth. Ichthyol., 1788: 12 (descr., size). 

 Squalus americanus Gmelin, in Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., J (3), I 789: 1503 (descr., named on incorrect assumption 



that Cap du Breton specimen of Broussonet, 1780, was taken at the Nova Scotian loc. of that name); 



Walbaum, P. Artedi Genera Pise. Emend. Ichthyol., j, 1792: 521 (descr.) ; Bloch and Schneider, Syst. 



Ichthyol., 1801: 136 (descr.); Bosc, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., 21, 1803: 192 (diagn.) ; Latreille, Nouv. 



Diet. Hist. Nat., 24, 1804: 72 (in contents); Shaw, Gen. Zool., 5, 1804: 347. 

 Le squale liche, Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., 4° ed., i, 1 798: 279, pi. 10, fig. 3 (descr., ill., C. Breton), also 



other eds.; in Sonnini, Hist. Nat. Poiss., 4, 1802: 117 (same as Lacepede, 1798). 

 Squalus nicaetisis Risso, Ichthyol. Nice, 1 8 10: 43, pi. 4, fig. 6 (descr., occur, near Nice, France). 

 Dalatias ifarofhagus Rafinesque, Carrat. Gen. Nuov. Sicil., 1810: 10, pi. 13, fig. 2 (descr. and ill. recogniz- 

 able, though spiracle said to be lacking) ; Indice Ittiol. Sicil., 1810:44 (Sicily) . 

 Scymnus americanu! Cuvier, Regne Anim., 2, 1817: 130 (genl., notes earlier error regarding type loc, C. du 



13. Fraser-Brunner, Proc. R. Irish Acad., 42, 1935: 320. 14. Bowditch, Excurs. Madeira, 1825: 74.. 



15. Nichols and Firth, Proc. biol. Soc. Wash., 52, 1939: 85. 



