90 Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 



Figure 29 



Genus Eulamw, Requiem Sharks. 



Figure 29. Eulamia maculipinnis, Great Black-Tipped Shark. 



Description: Among local Eulamias that do not have a ridge 

 down the middle of the back, this species most resembles limbatus 

 in its general appearance, in its fins and teeth and in its color, 

 especially in the fact that its fins are conspicuously tipped with 

 black. It is separated from limbatus, however, by its smaller eyes 

 but longer gill openings, also by the facts that the free rear tip 

 of its second dorsal is noticeably more slender and that the edges 

 of its lower teeth are perfectly smooth. (They are finely serrate 

 in limbatus). 



Color : Varying shades of gray above ; white or whitish below, 

 with a narrowing band of the darker shade of the upper parts ex- 

 tending rearward and above the band a forward extension of the 

 pale shade of the lower parts. The second dorsal, the lower 

 surfaces of pectorals and the lower lobe of caudal are conspicu- 

 ously tipped with black. 



Size: The few specimens so far measured have ranged from 

 5 feet 8 inches long to about 8 feet. 



Habits: This shark has been seen in schools and leaping at 

 the surface as limbatus does. Nothing more is known of its habits. 



Range: Although first described more than three quarters of a 

 century ago, this species has been so generally confused with limbatus 

 that the published record affords very little confirmation as to 

 its distribution. Actually it is common enough in waters off 

 southern Florida for the local fishermen to be familiar with it. 

 Since it is also known from Cuba and from Puerto Rico, it un- 

 doubtedly occurs generally throughout the Caribbean and among 

 the West Indies. We have no confirmation, however, as to the 

 percentage that it forms of the catches that are made. 



