SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 37 



Genus CARCHARIAS Rafinesque. Sand Sharks. 



This genus, whose characters are given above, contains several species of 

 which only one is American. {Carcharias, old name for the cub shark, or 

 requiem, of Europe and tropical America.) 



11. CARCHARIAS LITTORALIS (Mitchill). 

 "Sand-bar Shark" ; "Sand Shark" ; Shovel-nose. 



Squalus Kttoralis Mitchill, American Monthly Magazine, ii, 328, 1818; New York. 



Eugomphodus littoralis. Yarrow, 1877, 217; Beaufort. 



Carcharias americanus, Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 387; Beaufort. 



Carcharias littoralis, .Jordan, 1886, 26; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 46; 1898, 2748; (Beaufort). 



Diagnosis. — Body elongate, its depth .16 its length; head small, pointed, its length about 

 .14 total length; all fins small, first dorsal about same size as second and anal. Color: dark gray 

 above, white below, (littoralis, pertaining to the shore.) 



This is a well known shark of the Atlantic coast, inhabiting sandy shores and 

 feeding chiefly on fishes. It is one of the most vicious of sharks, and is able to 

 inflict serious injury to the careless fisherman. The usual length is under 5 feet, 

 but a length of 10 or 12 feet is sometimes reached. Two specimens 9 feet long 

 were obtained at Beaufort by Mr. H. H. Brimley in 1900; one of these, a female, 

 skinned and mounted, is now in the State Museum at Raleigh. 



This appears to be the species known at Cape Lookout as the "sand-bar 

 shark"; a specimen caught there April 21, 1904, was between 8 and 10 feet long 

 and was said by the fishermen to contain a "bushel of eggs". 



Order CYCLOSPONDYLI. The Cyclospondylous Sharks. 



This order is thus far represented in North Carolina by a single species*, 

 which is intermediate between the sharks and the rays. The anal fin is absent, 

 the dorsal fins are small, and the internal calcareous layers of each vertebra are 

 arranged concentrically about the central ring. 



Family SQUATINIDiE. The Angel Sharks. 



Ray-like sharks, with broad, flattened body; obtuse snout; terminal mouth; 

 large, expanded pectoral fins, separated from neck by a deep notch; large ven- 

 tral fins; two small dorsal fins on the tail, behind the ventrals; no anal fin; wide 

 lateral gill-slits, partly inferior; wide, crescentic spiracles; nostrils on anterior 

 margin of snout. One genus. 



Genus SQUATINA Dum^ril. Angel-fishes. 



This genus, which is sufficiently characterized above, includes a single widely 

 distributed species. (Squatina, the aicient Latin name for this fish.) 



*The spiny dog-fish {Squalus acanthias), which ranges along our east coast from Cuba northward and is 

 common in Maine and Massachusetts, belongs in this order. 



