108 Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 



of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Thresher, it ap- 

 pears, is not common in the West Indian-Caribbean region where 

 it has been positively reported only off Havana. A few specimens, 

 however, are to be expected anywhere there, for it is known from 

 Brazil on the one hand, from the northern side of the Gulf of 

 Mexico and from southern Florida (where it appears not to be 

 uncommon) on the other. It is included here because of its bizarre 

 appearance and because so often mentioned in the accounts of 

 sharks in general. It is more numerous to the northward, fre- 

 quently seen and caught in summer off the United States coast as 

 far as Cape Cod, very occasionally as far as Nova Scotia, and even 

 as a stray to the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the warm months. 



