The Sharks— Part Two 357 



A luminous shark, Acanthidium molleri. 



Courtesy, Sydney and Melbourne Publishing Co. from 

 The Fishes of Australia by G. P. Whitley. 1940 



ranges from Alaska to, occasionally, southern California, and, on the 

 Asiatic side of the Pacific, lumbers along from the Bering Sea to northern 

 Japan. 



The Luminous Shark 

 (Isistius brasiliensis Quoy and Gaimard, 1824) 

 A small shark noted for its brilliant luminescence, the Luminous 

 shark grows to about 18 inches and is found, usually far at sea, in the 

 warm waters of the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian Oceans. Despite 

 their small size, they are as fierce as any pelagic shark. In an account of 

 a nineteenth-century whaling voyage, F. D. Bennett wrote: 



They fought fiercely with their jaws and had torn the net in several 

 places . . . When the larger specimen, taken at night, was removed into a 

 dark apartment, it afforded a very extraordinary spectacle. The entire inferior 

 surface of the body and head emitted a vivid and greenish phosphorescent 

 gleam, imparting to the creature, by its own light, a truly ghastly and terrific 

 appearance. The luminous effect was constant . . . When the shark expired 

 (which was not until it had been out of the water more than three hours), the 

 luminous appearance faded entirely from the abdomen, and more gradually 

 from other parts, lingering the longest around the jaws and on the fins. 



Even smaller than the Luminous shark is a rare species (Euprotojnicrus 

 laticaiidus Smith and Radcliffe, 1912) which was discovered only in 

 this century when a male and a female were hauled from a depth of 

 1,020 feet in Batangas Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands. The male, slightly 

 larger than the female, measured 6 inches and appeared to be fully 

 developed. Their tiny, jet-black bodies and white fins were typical shark 

 forms in miniature. Acanthidium molleri is still another luminous form, 

 caught by Dr. Whitley at 130 fathom depths near Sydney, Australia. Its 

 sides are luminous. 



Family Echinorhinidae— Bramble Shark 

 Only one species {Echinorhinus brucus Bonnaterre, 1788) is known 

 in this family. The hide of the Bramble shark (also known as the Spiny 

 shark, Spinous shark, and Alligator shark) seems carpeted with brambles. 



