Jordan and Krennann. Fishes of North America. 33 



24. PRIONACE, Cantor. 

 (BLUE SHARKS.) 



o;/, MfLLEii <fc HENLK, Plagiostomen,36, 1838, (glancus, etc., namo preoccupied). 

 , CAMMI:, Malayan Fishes, 399, 1850, (substitute for Prionodon). 

 *lu, (KLEIN), GILL, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y.,1861, 401, (gltmcut). 



Large sharks with the body and head slender; no spiracles; the teeth 

 in both jaws strongly serrated in the adult, those in the upper jaw broad, 

 those below narrower, straight, and claviform ; first dorsal large, inserted 

 midway between axils of pectorals and ventrals; second dorsal much 

 smaller, usually not larger than anal ; embryo not attached to the uterus 

 by a placenta. Species rather few; large, slender, swift, voracious sharks 

 of the warm seas. The groups here called Prionace, Hypoprion t Apriono- 

 don, and Scoliodon are usually placed as subgenera under Carcharhinus or 

 Carcharias, as the group has been commonly called. Their retention as 

 distinct genera is apparently justified on the ground of convenience. 

 (irpiuv, saw; attic t point). 



38. PRIONACE GLAUOA, (Linnaeus). 



(GREAT BLUE SHARK.) 



Snout very long ; nostrils rather nearer to the mouth than to the 

 extremity of the snout ; no labial fold except a groove at the angle of 

 the mouth; teeth of the upper jaw oblique, scarcely constricted near the 

 base ; lower teeth slender, triangular in young examples, lanceolate, with 

 a broad base, in old ones. Pectoral fin long, falciform, extending to the 

 dorsal, which is nearer the ventrals than the root of the pectorals. Color 

 light bluish gray above, paler below. A large shark of the warm seas, 

 occasionally taken on our coasts (a few specimens from San Francisco 

 and Monterey). More common in Europe. (JEu.) 



,$/><(?< ylaucus, LINN/EUS, Syst.Nat., Ed.x, 236, 1758, Seas of Europe. 



Carchuriius glaums, GUNTHER, Cat.,vui, 364,1870. 



Ckvcharhimu glaucuz, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 22,1883. 



&innlns cseruleus, BLAINVILLE, Faune Franyaise, 91, 1828, Medeiterranean. 



S<jnahm hinmdinaceus, VALENCIENNES, in Miiller & Henle, Plagiostomeu, 37, 1838, Brazil. 



25. CARCHARHINUS, Blainville. 



Carcharias,* RAFINESQUE, Caratteri Alcuni NuoviGeneri, 10, 1810, (in part ; taurus, the only species 



named). 

 Carcharhinus, BLAINVILLE, Journ. Phys., 1816, 264 ; (commersoni, a namo based on Lacepede'H 



figure of " Squalus carcharias" ; it apparently represents Carcharhinus lamia). 

 Carcharias, CUVIER, Regne Animal, Ed.], 125, 1817, (carcharias, expressly identified with Canis 



carcharias of Belon (de Aquatilibus, 1, 60), which is the species commonly called Carcharias 



lamia). 



Enlamia, GILL, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., 1861, 401, (lamia). 

 Plalt/pod'tH, GlLL,?. c., 401, (menisorrah). 

 Isoijomphodon, GILL, I. c.,401, (oryrhynchus). 

 Luiio2)sis, GILL, 7. c., 401, (temmmcld). 



* The name Carcharias as a generic term was first used by Rafinesque in 1810. It was thus de- 

 fined: 



"G. CARCHARIAS. Nessuuo spiraglio, due ale dorsali, un ala anali, cinque aperture branchial! 

 da ogni lato. Coda disiguale obbliqua. Oss., Questo geuere e il primo nelP ordine delli fr/naUm, 

 e contiene le specie le piu euormo e le pid voraci; differisce notabilmente del genere Galeus dalla 



F. N. A. 4 



