23,1 Herre: Notes on Philippine Sharks, I 69 



Sharks and skates are of world-wide distribution and occur 

 from the upper Silurian deposits onward. Although most 

 species are more or less solitary in habit, a few sometimes 

 occur in vast schools and are distinctly gregarious at all times. 



Though sharks and skates are but little eaten by Europeans 

 and their descendants, practically all are edible and a few species 

 are really very good food, ignorance and prejudice alone pre- 

 venting them from being extensively used as food. To an extent 

 little realized they are being increasingly utilized in the United 

 States. Many of those caught in traps along the Atlantic coast 

 are cut up so as to be unrecognizable and are marketed under the 

 name of "deep water swordfish." Certain sharks make an 

 acceptable canned product, though owing to the prejudice against 

 shark meat they have been marketed under another name. 



In the Philippines several species of sharks and rays are com- 

 monly seen in the markets and are esteemed as food. In some 

 parts of the Islands, especially in the Sulu Archipelago, large 

 numbers of sharks are caught for the fins alone, little use being 

 made of the rest of the fish. The dried fins are exported to 

 China, where they are in great demand as the basis for a 

 delicious soup. The liver of sharks and rays is very rich in oil 

 and in some parts of the world fisheries have been maintained 

 for generations for the purpose of obtaining the oil, the rest of 

 the animal being thrown away. Most of the oil is used in soap 

 making, tanning, and other industries, but the best grade is 

 refined and used as "cod-liver oil." 



No systematic shark fisheries are conducted in the Philip- 

 pines, but in the Sulu Archipelago many sharks are caught with 

 hook and line or speared. Many others are captured in the 

 fish traps which line the coasts, though their presence there or 

 their capture in nets is more or less accidental. 



In the modern method of developing shark fisheries the sharks 

 are caught in specially designed gill nets, as ordinary nets are 

 ruined by them. The hides are made into leather, the fins 

 are prepared for the Chinese trade, and the oil is extracted from 

 the livers ; the meat and bones are cooked and ground into stock 

 food and fertilizer. There are many localities in the Philippines 

 where a large and profitable business in sharks could be devel- 

 oped. The preparation and export of shark fins is a business 

 capable of great expansion. The choicest varieties fetch a very 

 high price but Filipino fishermen make no systematic effort to 

 get the better kinds, while the Chinese merchants who dry and 



