COD, HADDOCKS, WHITING, BREAM, ETC 443 



measuring over ten feet in length, was once taken in Carmar- 

 then Bay. 



The SPINOUS SHARK (Echinorhinus spinosus) is another 

 occasional visitor to our coasts. It is easily distinguished 

 from all the others by reason of a number of bony scales, from 

 which grow spines or claws not unlike those found on the 

 thornback. The largest specimen I ever heard of was one 

 measuring nine feet in length, caught off the Eddystone in 

 1869. 



The THRASHER (Alofiias vulpes), also called slasher, sea-fox, 

 fox-shark, and sea-ape, is a shark caught now and again on the 

 Cornish and other parts of our coasts. Its peculiarity is an 

 enormous tail-fin which is sometimes as long as its body. 

 With this it is popularly supposed to thrash the water for such 

 purposes as driving away dolphins, and herding together shoals 

 of fish. In 1865 Mr. Blake- Knox is said to have seen one 

 ' kill a diver with its tail and then swallow it.' (Which, the tail 

 or the diver ?) Many observers have declared that the thrasher 

 uses its enormous tail to flog whales to death, and though 

 this remarkable peculiarity has been doubted, yet evidence in 

 support of the statement is very strong. Very long thrashers 

 have been caught off the coast of England, but their length is 

 misleading, being made up of more than half tail. There is on 

 record a Plymouth thrasher of fourteen feet, and one of a 

 similar length was caught off Dawlish. 



The BASKING SHARK (Selache maxima] is of far greater im- 

 portance commercially than any of the species already men- 

 tioned, but from the angler's standpoint it is a useless creature. 

 It affords sport nevertheless, being easily captured with the 

 whaler's weapons. Its name is probably derived from its habit 

 of lying quietly near the surface of the water. Sometimes it 

 swims about with its dorsal fin well in view, and hence also 

 gets the name of sail-fish. Off the Irish and Welsh coasts 



