SHARKS AND RAYS OF BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROUNA. 263 



Color. — Upper parts silver)' gray, lower sides lighter, shading into white of ventral surface; three 

 rows of large spots of darker coloration than the ground color along upper sides and on caudal nearly 

 to tip. 



On August 8, 1914, a small school of large tiger sharks appeared in the Fort Macon Channel near 

 the fisheries laboratory and swam around the Fish Hawk. A baited shark hook thrown over the side 

 was seized by the largest of the school. The line offered little resistance to this big fellow and he 

 disappeared, taking bait and hook with him. During the time that elapsed while another hook was 

 being secured and baited, the rest of the school came up under the stem of the ship, showing no fear 

 of the men in the cockpit a few feet above them. Apparently the sharks were very hungry and were 

 prepared to grasp anything that might fall to them in the nature of food. When the second hook was 

 thrown over, it was seized by one of the school. This shark, which was killed and brought on deck, 

 was 264.2 cm. (8J^ feet) in length. For the second time this hook was thrown overboard and soon 

 another specimen, 307.3 cm. (lOj^ feet) in length was captured and hung from the end of the boom 

 with its head out of the water. On the third cast, another, 279.4 cm. (gj^ feet) in length, was captured. 

 About this time a shark, larger than any of those taken, swam up to the one hanging from the boom, 

 and raising its head partly out of the water, seized the dead shark by the throat. As it did so, the 

 captain of the Fish Hawk began shooting at it, with a 32-caliber revolver, as rapidly as he could take 

 aim. The shots seemed only to infuriate the shark, and it shook the dead one so viciously as to make 

 it seem doubtful whether the boom would withstand its onslaught. Finally it tore a very large section of 

 the imfortunate 's belly, tearing out and devouring the whole liver, leaving a gaping hole across the entire 

 width of the body large enough to permit a small child to easily enter the body cavity. At this instant 

 one of the bullets struck a vital spot, and after a lively struggle on the part of the launch's crew, a rope 

 was secured around its tail. The four specimens, all females, were brought to the laboratory for exam- 

 ination. The last shark was 365.8 cm. (12 feet) in length, and the liver of the smaller one was still in 

 its stomach, the estimated weight of which was 40 potmds. At the time of capture one of the sharks 

 regvu-gitated a rat, another a small shark about 61 cm. in length. As this was not saved, its identity 

 was not determined. A shark sucker {Leptecheneis naucrates) 26.2 cm. long was also taken with one 

 of the sharks. 



Mr. Coles reports the capture of an example of this species by fishermen in the bight of Cape Lookout 

 in 1912. 



Family CESTRACIONTID^E. The hammer-head sharks. 



Genus CESTRACION Klein. 



KEY To THE SPECIES. 



a. Head hammer-shaped; nostril with a well-developed groove extending along front of head, .zygcena. 

 aa. Head kidney-shaped; nostril with frontal groove short or obsolete tiburo. 



16. Cestracion zygaena (Linnaeus). Hammer-head; hammer-headed shark. 



Sphyrna zygiBtia, Yarrow. 1877. p. 217; Jordan and Gilbert. 1879, p. 387; Jordan. 1886, p. j6; Jenkins, 1887. p. 84; Wilson. 

 1900, p. 355: Smith, 1907, p. 36, fig. 6 (a and 6); Gudger. 1907, p. 1005; id., 1913a, p. lo; Coles, 1914, p. 90. 



Teeth. — Teeth in ^^ ^ ■ rows, differing in form in different individuals. 

 31-34 



In an example 52.3 cm. in length they are oblique, compressed, with a sharp-pointed cusp and a 

 deep notch on the posterior margin, similar in form in both jaws, with no specific differences in form 

 from those of Scoliodon terrcE-novcB. In a male 124.5 cm. long, the upper teeth are oblique, notched, 

 like those of 5. terriB-novce, lower teeth erect, or nearly so, narrow-cusped, several rows of oblique teeth 

 at angle of jaws. In a male 132 cm. long the teeth are low, broad-based, without or with a very short 

 cusp, bases somewhat swollen, not compressed as in the specimens mentioned above. Three rows of 

 small teeth, with a short, erect, pointed cusp, at symphysis of upper jaw; in the teeth adjacent to these, 

 the cusps are slightly bent toward the angles, with a distinct notch on posterior border; this type grades 

 into a cuspless form, five rows at each angle being pavementlike. Lower teeth similar, except that 

 the number of rows with an erect cusp is greater and the transition to the pavement type more abrupt, 

 eight or nine rows of the latter adjacent to angles. The teeth in this species show a transition from 

 the compressed triangular forms of the foregoing species to the pavement teeth of the smooth dogfish. 



Through the courtesy of Dr. E. W. Gudger, the writer has examined the jaws of the female hammer- 

 head, 3S1 cm. (12 feet 6 inches) long, taken in Beaufort Harbor, July 20, 1906. The teetli are oblique 



