328 Shark and Cofnpany 



were determined by the imprint of the wounds. A Large Black-Tipped 

 shark's maximum length is about 8 feet. 



Because of its resemblance to Eulaifiia (Carcharhifms) Urn bams, the 

 Large Black-Tipped shark has long been confused with its slightly 

 smaller relative. It travels in schools and has the same habit of leaping 

 that the Small Black-Tipped displays. It frequently follows shrimp 

 trawlers feeding on trash fish that are thrown overboard. It is found in 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and off Cuba, Puerto Rico, and southern Florida. 

 A similar Black-Tipped shark is known in Australia, India, and South 

 Africa. 



The two kinds of Black-Tipped sharks can be distinguished by the 

 fact that the Small Black-Tipped has larger eyes and shorter gill slits 

 than the Large Black-Tipped. 



White-Tipped Shark 

 [Pterolamiops (Carcharhmus) longimanus Poey, 1861] 



In 1956, the A?idrea Doria, en route to New York from Europe, 

 collided with another ship 60 miles off Nantucket Light and sank 40 

 fathoms to the bottom of the Atlantic. Today the once proud Italian 

 luxury liner is a barnacled den for thousands of fish— and a hunting 

 ground for sharks. 



Skin-divers Peter R. Gimbel and Joseph Fox visited the Andrea Doria 

 a little more than a year after she sank, and met the sharks that are her 

 sentries. One made a feint at Gimbel and he drove a knife into its snout. 

 It had white-tipped fins that glimmered in the darkness. It, and probably 

 its companions, were White-Tipped sharks, ocean-roaming wanderers 

 hardly ever seen near land. 



The White-Tipped is another of the many sharks we know little 

 about. The research vessel Atlantis spotted several hundred White- 

 Tipped sharks about 50 miles off the Massachusetts coast in June of 

 1941. A recent U.S. Fish and Wildhfe Service report said that the White- 

 Tipped was responsible for most of the damage to tuna caught on long- 

 line fishing gear in the Gulf of Mexico, and was one of the most abun- 

 dant sharks in the warm waters of the North Atlantic. It is believed to 

 grow to 12 or 13 feet in length, but most of those that are caught are 

 around 8 feet. 



The Fish and Wildlife report on observation of White-Tipped sharks 

 in the Atlantic noted a curious association: "On several occasions we 

 have seen one or several 'dolphins' (Coryphaena hippuriis) [the fish, 

 not the mammal] . . . swimming with the shark. They are generally to 

 the rear or one side of the shark." Eight to ten fish were seen accompany- 

 ing one shark. 



In the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, the White-Tipped is 



