BASKING SHARK. 



147 



"The Basking Slinrk fishory," writes Nii.ssdx tVi)in 

 notes taken nbout seventy years :\<^t>. "('(jnunenees on 

 the west coast of Norway about the middle of August. 

 The boats used are about 18— "20 ells (107—119 dm.) 

 long, carry all tlie tackle re(|uisite for the HsherA', and 

 are manned by a crew of four. These l)oats cruise 

 along the coast, and tin; Shark generally appears in 

 their Avake and conies close t(j the boat, but is some- 

 times found King still at tiie surface. ( )mc of tiie 

 crew tiien takes the hai'])oon, wliich is furnished with 

 a long siiaft (a jiole), and plunges it witli all ids might 

 into the fish. The others lend a helping hand, 'but 

 the nionu'iit tiie lione is touclied, lie i)lunges to the 

 bottom.' The -iiarpoon-line, whit'ii is aliout 14 — 15 

 score fatlioms (.530 — 565 in.) long, and which lies coiled 

 up (kreilet) and clear, runs out so rapidly that water 

 must be poured on the bulwark to prevent it from 

 catching fire. On reaching tlie bottom the Basking 

 Shark swims along until exhausted, towing the boat 

 out to sea. Sometimes, if lean, it can liold out for 

 twenty-four hours; if fat, it gives in after three or four 

 hours. When it is tired out, they haul it up alongside 

 the boat, and with a long knife cut the tail in front 

 of the caudal tin, not i|uite oft', for, if so treated, it 

 would stave in the liuat with lashes of the maimed 

 limb; they leave a part of the fin hanging fast. After- 

 wards they stab it to deatii with lances; then turn it 

 belly upwards in the watei-, and lash it fast to the mast. 



Now one of tiie fishermen takes a long knife and cuts 

 out a great piece at tlie fore (^nd of the livei-, wiiere- 

 upon lie inserts liis arm and severs all the bands and 

 ties of the liver. Finally he cuts open tiie belly with 

 a single slit, when the livei' comes out and floats on 

 the water like a bolster; but at the same moment the 

 water rushes into tiie beilv of the fisii, and the lashings 

 must be cut loose with haste, or tiie boat will sink." 

 Tills fishery was commenced, according to Gunnkhus, at 

 the middle of the eighteenth century, and was still 

 practised, according to Nilsson, in 1820 — 1880; but it 

 lias now been abandoned as a special occupation, and 

 for tile last forty years the Basking Shark has been 

 s])oken of in Norway almost as a rarity. 



The Basking Shark is most souglit after for its 

 liver, which yields an excellent oil; but according to 

 GuNxicHUs the poor at lea.st were accustomed in his 

 time to cut rukJiiKj and raf" from tiie flesli of the 

 Basking Shark. Tiie outer skin is used for jiolishing 

 purposes; and the thick true skin is manufactured into 

 saddles and shoe-soles. 



The Norwegian name of tiie Basking Shark is ])ro- 

 nounced both bnu/de and bryi/de. Olafsex cites from 

 Iceland the names of Jli/ner and Beinhaakal (Bony 

 Greenland Shark), tlie latter having reference to the 

 greater tirmness which its skeleton displays than that 

 of the Greenland Shark and of the smaller Siiarks. In 

 Ens'land too it is known as the Bone Shark. 



Fam. SCYLLIID.E. 



Tu-o dor.-^al fins (unl one anal, the ^/irsf dorsal sttaafcd above the re>itral tins or behind the perpendkidar there- 

 from : none of them irith sj>ine. Eijes icifhoitf nictifafinc/ mendirane. Spiraeles open, comparatlveltj larf/e. 



Sharks of rather considerable dimensions and some- 

 times dangerous to man'' are indeed not wanting within 

 tlie jiresent family, liut most of the 25 species are 

 middle-sized. or small. B}- GCxther the Scyllioids are 

 distributed among 7 genera. From the preceding Sharks 

 they dift'er both in form of body and manner of life. 

 Instead of pelagic rovers we here meet for tlie most 

 part with bottom-iishes and littoral species of nocturnal 

 habits, hiding themselves by day among seaweeds, on 

 the sand or under rocks, where thej' lurk for prey. 



The fins are consequently of a more rounded or trun- 

 cate form. The tail too is straighter. running in a 

 line with the trunk, and without any marked upward 

 curvature of the caudal fin, the tip of which forms a 

 diplucercal lobe, in most cases not very obliquely cut, 

 the anterior part of the lower caudal lobe being similar 

 in shape to the anal fin. Another character of fairly 

 general validity in tliis family is the great development 

 of the nostrils, which is frequeiitlj" so advanced that 

 these apertures are confluent, as in the Ka}\s, with the 



" See above, p. 415. 



' Tlie Australian WoObeijong {Vrc 



rhimis), see Hill in TENlsON-\yooLis, Fish and Fisheries of N. 6'. Wales, p. 94. 



