84 Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 



Figure 26 



Genus Eulamia, Requiem Sharks. 



Figure 26. Eulamia milberti, Brown Shark, Sand Bar Shark. 



Description: E. milberti is one of the ridge-backed members of 

 the genus. It is easily recognizable among other species with this 

 feature by the large size of the first dorsal fin (its vertical height 

 is about as great as the distance from the eye to the second-third gill 

 opening) and by its position far forward with its origin over the 

 center of the pectoral, combined with the fact that the free rear 

 margin of its second dorsal is only about as long as the base of 

 that fin. The scales on the sides are also much more loosely 

 spaced than in other local members of the genus. 



Color: Varying from slate gray to brownish gray or brown 

 above, perhaps depending on the color of the surroundings ; a paler 

 tint of the same hue or white below. The fins have no conspic- 

 uous markings. 



Size: Usually about 22 inches long at birth, it matures at about 

 6 feet ; occasionally growing to 8 feet or so. Weights are from 

 about 100 pounds at 6 feet to about 200 pounds at 7 feet 8 inches. 



Habits: An inshore species, most often seen at river mouths, 

 in shallow bays and similar places. It is often taken in pound 

 nets or harpooned, but it seldom shows at the surface. It feeds 

 chiefly on small fishes — including skates^ and dog fish, a wide 

 variety of which have been found in its stomach — also on crabs, 

 bivalves, mollusks and octopuses to some extent. Seemingly its 

 young are produced chiefly in the northern parts of its range in 

 summer. So far as it is known, it is wholly harmless. 



Range : In the western Atlantic from southern Brazil to New 

 England. It is still an open question whether repeated reports 

 of its presence in the Mediterranean and from neighboring parts 

 of the eastern Atlantic actually refer to the same species. This is 

 perhaps the most numerous of the sharks that are caught in south- 

 ern Florida in winter. It may occur generally in the Caribbean 

 also at that season, for it has been recorded from Yucatan and 

 from the coast of Nicaragua. In summer, on the other hand, so 

 many visit the coast of the United States between New Jersey 

 and Cape Cod, that there is record of fourteen of them harpooned by 

 one single fishing boat near New York in one day. But it is not 

 known whether the entire stock shares in this migration, or 

 whether some remain in more southern waters throughout the 

 year. 



