352 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



"Albatross" in Batangas Bay, Luzon, 

 Philippine Islands, at a depth of one hun- 

 dred and se\-enty fathoms.- It is cylin- 

 drical, slender, with very narrow peduncle 

 and very broad tail, and is jet black, with 

 the fins wholly or partly white. The 

 species is represented by a single pair, of 

 which the fully developed male (which is 

 larger than the female) measures less than 

 six inches in length. It is believed that 

 no other shark is so diminutive. 



We have not yet spoken of the largest 

 of all sharks — which means the largest 

 of all fishes of the world. This is the 

 "whale shark" {Rhinodon typiciis A. 

 Smith), originally described from Cape 

 of Good Hope, but now known from 

 India, Japan, South America, Panama, 

 California, and various other places. 

 There have been two individuals taken 

 on the coast of Florida, the first, a rather 

 small one (eighteen feet long) obtained 

 at Ormond in 1902; the second a verit- 

 able monster, caught at Knight's Key in 

 June, 1912. The skin of the fish was 

 stuffed in a distorted shape (see oppo- 

 site page) and exhibited in various parts 

 of the country as " The Only Creature 

 of the Kind in the World." The adver- 

 tised length of the fish was forty-five 

 feet, but from the best information ob- 

 tainable it was somewhat more than 

 thirty-eight feet long before stuffing. 



This shark has a very broad and obtuse 



Scymnodon ringens Booage & Capello, from 765 fath- 

 oms off Jiipuii, from tlie "Challenger" expedition; 

 Acantliidium projuiidorurn (Smith & Hadcliffe), from 

 736 to 976 fathoms in the I'hilii)pine Art^hipelago, from 

 the "Albatross" expedition; Elmoplerus brachyurus 

 Smith & Radeliffe, from 263 fathoms off Jolo, Philip- 

 pine Islands, taken by the "Albatross"; Centroscylliuni 

 nigrum Garman, from 540 to 555 fathoms in the 

 North Pacific off Colombia, taken by the "Alba- 

 tross"; Cenlroscyllium ornaturn (Alcock), from 285 to 

 690 fathoms in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian 

 Sea; Lepidorhinus foliaceus Giinther, from 345 fath- 

 oms off Japan, taken by the "Challenger," and from 

 960 fathoms in the Philippine Archipelago, taken by 

 the "Albatross." 



- It was made the tyjie of a new genus and called 

 Sgualiolus luliraudiis by Smith & Hadcliffe (see page 

 351). 



snout and an exceedingly wide mouth 

 armed with numerous minute teeth; 

 the dark-colored body is marked with 

 many small whitish spots. The species 

 is stated to attain a length of seventy 

 feet and is known to exceed fifty feet. 

 Notwithstanding its immense size, how- 

 ever, it is harmless to man unless at- 

 tacked, and feeds on the small creatures 

 for which its teeth are adapted. Its 

 huge bulk makes it dangerous in the 

 same way that a whale is dangerous. 

 Years ago it was reported that the 

 sperm-whale fishermen on the island of 

 Saint Denis, in the Indian Ocean, 

 dreaded to harpoon a whale shark by 

 mistake, and stories are told of how a 

 harpooned fish "having by a lightning- 

 like di\'e exhausted the supply of rope 

 which had been accidentally fastened to 

 the boat, dived deeper still, and so pulled 

 a pirogue and crew to the bottom." 



The sharks most numerous on the 

 United States coasts are the small forms 

 known as dogfishes, which belong in two 

 distinct families and get their name from 

 their habit of going in droves or packs 

 like wild dogs. The smooth dogfish 

 {Galeorhinus laevis Valmont), is one of 

 the omnipresent fishes of the Altantic 

 coast in summer from Cape Cod to Cape 

 Hatteras, and is abundant on the lower 

 Carolina coast in spring. It is a slender 

 graceful species, without spines in the 

 dorsal fins, reaching a length of three 

 feet, and having pavement-like teeth 

 adapted for crushing lobsters, crabs, and 

 other bottom-loving creatures. The 

 horny or spiny dogfish {Squalus acanthias 

 Klein) is found on both sides of the 

 North Atlantic and is easily the most 

 abundant and most destructive of our 

 east-coast sharks.^ The spiny dogfish 

 ranges as far north as the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and south to North Carolina, 

 and reaches its maximum abundance 



The Pacific coast form is iS. sucklii ((iirard)^ 



