COMMON TOPE. 



391 



On the Cornish coast this is a common and rapacious 

 species ; but it is not so destructive as the Blue Shark. 

 The larger specimens, which are about six feet long, abound 

 chiefly in summer ; and the young, to the number of 

 thirty or more, according to Mr. Couch, are excluded all at 

 once from the female in May and June. They do not reach 

 the full size until the second year, and continue with us 

 through the first winter, while those of larger size retire into 

 deep water. No use is made of this fish beyond melting 

 the liver for oil. When caught on a fisherman's line, this 

 fish sometimes has recourse to the same attempt at deli- 

 verance as the Blue Shark, by twisting the line throughout 

 the whole length round its body. 



Body fusiform ; the skin almost smooth ; lateral line 

 straight ; the first and second dorsal fins rather small, tri- 

 angular, very slightly convex on their posterior edges, both 

 ending in points directed backwards ; the first dorsal fin 

 placed over the interval between the pectoral and ventral 

 fins ; the second immediately over the anal fin, and a little 

 larger in size : the head is rather large ; the muzzle elon- 

 gated and depressed ; nostrils pierced very near the mouth, 

 in part closed by a membrane ; the eyes moderate, and over 

 the mouth ; temporal orifices small ; the jaws semicircular ; 

 teeth small, in several rows, and very nearly alike both 

 above and below, triangular and denticulated on the outer 

 side ; the branchial apertures are small, placed near together, 

 the four first nearly equal in size, the fifth the smallest, and 

 placed over the anterior edge of the pectoral fins ; the pec- 

 toral fins are of moderate size, and triangular in shape ; the 

 ventral fins small, near the middle of the whole length, and 

 under the space between the first and second dorsal ; the 

 tail rather less than half the length of the body, with a 

 bi-lobed fin ; the upper lobe terminal, oblique, and truncated; 



