62 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Springer (1949, pp. 17-26), who lists (under the name "scoophead 

 shark") a female, 1,125 mm. long, containing eight embryos, which 

 was collected in April 1949, from the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad. 



There is, in the Stanford University collection, the head of a speci- 

 men of this species (SU 52716) from Vitoria, Brazil. Since this 

 locality is so far removed from Trinidad, the next closest place from 

 which S. media has been recorded, one might regard the record with 

 suspicion. However, the intervening area has not been weU collected, 

 and further exploration will likely show the species to be more widely 

 distributed in the western Atlantic than presently appears. 



200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 



TL IN MM 



Figure 17. — Comparison of rostral cartilage length (expressed as a ratio) in Sphyrna media 

 and Sphyrna corona. Width of chondrocranium measured from tips of preorbital cartilages. 

 (Figure by Paul Laessle.) 



Sphyrna (Platysqualus) corona Springer 



Figures 16, 17, 18, 2lh, 22g; Plate 7d 



'^Sphyrna tiburo (misidentification) Kumada and Hiyama, 1937, p. 17. (Descrip- 

 tion could apply to either S. tiburo or S. media; illustration is either of S. media 

 or S. corona.) 



Sphyrna corona SprinRor, 1940a, pp. 161-169. (Original description; illustration 

 of head; holotype, a 672 mm. male, SU 11882; type locality, Panama Bay, 

 at Panama City, Panama.) 



Specimens examined. — (Range in size: 231-672 mm. TL). Pacific 

 Ocean: Colombia: UCLA 51-283 (1), Boca Candelaria, 50 mi. south 

 of Buenaventura. Costa Rica: UCLA 54-167 (1), Golfo de Nicoya, 

 Chira Flats, off Isla Chira. Mexico: FMNH 72521 (2), off Chiapas 

 coast, above San Benito. Panama: CAS (W 53-273) (3), Panama 

 Bay, 1-3 mi. southeast of Taboga, and 2-4 mi. off Rio Pacora; UCLA 



