320 Shark and Company 



common in southern Calif ornian inshore waters; and the South African 

 Skaamoong sharks (Haploblepharus edwardsi and Holohalaelurus regani). 

 The Swell shark fills its belly with air when taken from the water, and 

 swells out like a balloon. It sometimes floats on the surface this way for 

 several days. The Skaamoong sharks, also called "Shy Eyes," curl their 

 tails over their eyes as if to shield them when they are taken from the 

 water. 



Australia has a variety of Cat sharks, whose often startling color 

 patterns can be visualized in their names: Black-Spotted, Marbled, and 

 Draughtsboard (American translation: Checkerboard). The Australian 

 Swell shark (Cephaloscy Ilium laticeps Dumeril, 1853) "can Hve more 

 than one day out of water," Whitley reports. 



Most Cat sharks are small, rarely growing to more than 2 or 3 feet. 

 In silhouette, many of them resemble some of the Nurse or Carpet 

 sharks (Orectolobidae). But there is a slight though highly significant 

 difference between the two families. The mouth and the nostrils of the 

 Cat shark are generally separate and not joined by a groove, as are the 

 mouth and the nostrils of the Orectolobidae. This seemingly inconse- 

 quential difference means, in effect, that the Cat sharks have taken one 

 step closer to the higher species of shark. 



Family Pseudotriakidae—¥ atuSE Cat Sharks 

 On February 8, 1883, a strange shark was washed ashore at Amagan- 

 sett. Long Island. The shark was not quite 10 feet long, and, at first 

 glance, it appeared to be a Nurse shark. On second glance, it appeared 

 to be a Cat shark. But under closer scrutiny, it did not look like any 

 other shark ever seen by its finders, who were members of the crew of 

 the Amagansett Life-Saving Station. 



Luckily for science (but not so fortunately for those scientists 

 saddled with the task of classifying sharks), the odd shark was preserved 

 and its exact measurements taken. Its most unusual feature— the one 

 that removed it from all known shark species— was its long, low first 

 dorsal fin, which was about as long as its tail fin. 



Until that chilly day in Amagansett, only one other such shark had 

 been recorded by science. That one had been found in Portugal. For 



A False Cat shark (Pseudotriakis microdon). 



Courtesy, The Sears Foundation for Marine Research from 

 Fishes of the Western North Atlantic by Henry B. Bigelow and William C. Schroeder, 1948 



