THE GAME FISHES OF THE PERSIAN GULF. 745 



GiDDiE and Seea. 



The identity of these species was never solved, though as bottom-feeders 

 both are common, more especially the Giddie ; this fish as a general colour- 

 ing has blue spots on a chocolate back-ground, whereas the Seea is reddish ; 

 from their appearance they would seem to belong to the family of Percidae, 

 but such a statement is mere conjecture, and requires verification. 



There now remain only two species of surface-feeders about which the 

 writer can speak from personal experience ; reference is made to the 

 family of 



Sharks. 



^io one can possibly deny that a shark is a fish, but can a Shark honestly 

 be termed a game fish ? Shark fishing calls vip visions of a hook like an 

 anchor, chain to match fastened to a three inch hawser, with a chunk of 

 mouldy pork as a bait. But such is not fishinr/. Where art and skill cease 

 to count, there angling also comes to a dead stop. There can be no gain- 

 saying the assertion, however, that given suitable tackle a shark will put xip 

 a terrific fight, which is not unaccompanied by a spice of danger. Sharks, 

 therefore, can without prejudice be placed in a separate class ; they are 

 sporting fish, if legitimate methods be employed for their capture, although 

 they are not strictly speaking game fish. 



The family CARCHARIID^. 



is divided by Day into 6 genera; of these the surface-feeders at J ask are 

 included in the genus 



Carchakias. 



This genus is again sub-dividend by Day into 17 individual species of 

 which two species are encountered at Jask under the general name of 



Coolie. 

 The first species is 



Carchanas tricuspidatus. 



The following are the measurements of a specimen which the writer killed 

 after a fair and square combat of titanic intensity lasting 4J hours on tackle 

 which was regularly employed during the ordinary course of a day's fishing. 



Weight.— IS% lbs. 



Length. — 7 ft. 7 inches. 



The capture of this Shark probably constitutes a record for rod and line 

 in India. This monster was taken trolling on a moran and was hooked 

 within 200 yards of Jask Point. That larger individuals terrorize the finny 

 life round this promontory goes without saying but it is open to question 

 whether they will attack man without provocation. They are essentially 

 piscivorous by nature, and it is the writer's firm opinion that this Shark un- 

 less wounded or provoked will not assail the genus Homo. Cases have been 

 treated at the Jask dispensary of locals suffering from ghastly wounds ; but 

 inquiry has invariably elicited the information that such injuries were inflicted 

 during the process of disentangling a Shark from a net or extracting a hook 

 from its jaws. 



The second species is 



