76 Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 



APPENDIX C 



Figure 22 



Family Eulamidae, Requiem Sharks. 



Genus Eulamia. 



Figure 22. Eulamia floridanus, Silky Shark. 



Description: E. floridanus, like jalcijonnis (Figure 23), belongs 

 to the ridge-backed subdivision of the genus. The free rear tips 

 of its second dorsal and anal fins are very long and its teeth are 

 similar. It can easily be distinguished from falciformis. however, 

 by its much longer pectorals (nearly or just as long as the head), 

 its smaller eye (its diameter only 1/4 to 1/5 as long as the dis- 

 tance between the nostrils), and its narrower-tipped snout. 



Color: Dark gray to black above; dirty white below except that 

 the lower surfaces of the pectorals are dusky at the tip. 



Size: One of the larger members of its tribe, all specimens so 

 far reported having been between 8 feet and about 10 feet long. 



Habits: All that is known of its habits is that it is most often 

 taken (on set lines) in depths of 100 feet or more. Presumably 

 it is a fish eater. 



Range: Although it has only been about a year since this 

 species was given a scientific name, it undoubtedly occurs through- 

 out the tropical belt of the western Atlantic. It is already known 

 from Puerto Rico, from both coasts of Cuba and from southern 

 Florida. Large numbers have recently been taken off Havana, 

 while, off Salerno, Florida, as many as sixty adults have been taken 

 recently in a single day. Fishermen are familiar with it as the 

 "Silky Shark," a name appropriate because its scales are so small 

 that its skin feels smooth to the touch. 



