50 MALAYAN FISHES. 
BOX-FISHES. 
(OSTRACIONTIDAE.) 
This family is of no edible importance. 
GLOBE-FISHES AND PORCUPINE FISHES. 
(TETRODONTIDAE & DIODONTIDAE.) 
These fish possess poisonous properties and instances have been 
recorded of persons dying shortly after eating them. Malay fisher- 
men, however, commonly eat the Buntal pisang (Tetrodon 
lunaris) and some other species, being careful to remove all the 
poisonous organs, 
SHARKS AND DOG-FISHES. 
_ (CARCHARLUIDAE, SCYLLIDAE, SPHYRNIDAB.) 
Sharks are active predacious fishes living at different depths 
in the sea from the surface to nearly a thousand fathoms and rang- 
ing from mid-ocean to the shallower waters round the coasts in every 
part of the world. They are most abundant in the Tropics where 
they attain their greatest size, and some of the Sharks are the 
largest of living fishes. 
Among the ScyLLIpAE (Dog-fishes) we have in these waters the 
Tiger or Zebra Shark (Yu chechak or Yu to’kek) with dark 
bands on a tawny ground which attains a length of at least 10 feet. 
Among our species of the true Sharks (CARCHARTIDAE) we have 
Yu tenggiri (Galeocerdo rayneri) which attains a length of over 
12 feet and is very ferocious, but fortunately rather rare, and the 
Yu jerong or Yu sambaran (Carcharias sp.) which has also a 
bad reputation, 
The Hammer-head Sharks (SPHYRNIDAE) Yu bengkong, Yu 
sanggul or Yu palang are voracious, usually live in deep water 
and grow to a length of 15 feet. 
There is no scientific record of the D of RHINODON- 
TIDAE in these waters. Sharksof this family are probably the largest 
knewn and are said to exceed 50 feet in length (some writers men- 
tion 70 feet), but to be quite harmless. Specimens have been seen 
or captured in the neighbourhood of Ceylon, and on one occasion 
I watched a very large shark, in clear water, near Nipah Bay, 
Tioman Island, for more than half an hour, which appeared to 
equal the length of my yacht (35 feet). 
The economic value of sharks has not yet been fully realised. 
Fishermen regard them as a nuisance as they tear nets and take 
fish off their hooks, and they are avoided as much as possible. 
Incidentally sharks are a nuisance to trawl-fishermen in Australia, 
and if there is any delay in getting the “ cod-end ” containing the 
fish on board, the sharks will bite pieces out of it. There is how- 
ever every indication that shark-leather will soon be an ordinary 
trade commodity. The skin of sharks is composed of two layers: 
