428 FISHES. 



and the dorsal is spineless. In colour it is dark grey, 

 with touches of red on the sides and belly, and the lateral 

 Spinous l me distinctly white. The lower lobe of the 

 Shark. tail-fin is very insignificant. The eye is large, 

 and has no nictitating membrane; the spiracle is small. 

 The teeth lie in several rows, only one of which is func- 

 tional. In habits, this shark is a ground-species, rarely 

 coming to the surface, though the existence of a distinct 

 swimming race has been suggested; and its food would 

 appear to consist largely of crustaceans. The majority of 

 recorded British examples were captured west of Plymouth. 



In the Monk Fish we find so strange a combination of 

 the external characters of the foregoing and following 

 Angel or groups, that it may be regarded in a measure 

 Monk Pish. as t ne connecting link between the two, 

 though its place is, strictly speaking, with the sharks. It 

 is common on all our sandy coasts, particularly in the 

 northern waters, though the Channel furnishes a large 

 number to the trawlers ; and I recollect measuring one of 

 a few inches over 4 feet and weighing nearly 50 Ibs., which 

 was trawled off West Bournemouth in the month of Au- 

 gust 1896. It is rarely taken in the winter months, stray 

 examples being, however, thrown ashore at that season in 

 heavy gales, which makes it probable that the monk retires 

 during the cold weather a few miles only from land. In 

 colour this shark is usually dark brown or grey, with 

 numerous blotches, lighter beneath. The dorsal fins, 

 which lie back near the tail, are without spines, and there 

 is no anal fin, the pectorals being very large, but not join- 

 ing the head, as in the rays. There are a number of 

 tubercles over the skin, but their distribution differs. 

 Before the nostrils, next the mouth, is a loose process of 

 skin. The lateral gill -openings are large, as also the 

 crescent - shaped spiracles. The eyes lie far apart and 

 somewhat beneath the surface of the head, being in fact 

 included in the skin. This fish grows to a length of over 



