SHARKS AND SKATES. 



77 



so abundant are they at times and in certain localities, they are caught by the thou- 

 sand. On the Cornish coast, according to Gtinther, twenty thousand were once caught 

 in a single haul of a seine. They are usually taken with a hook and line, but since 

 their sharp teeth would instantly sever a cord, the hooks are attached to a short piece 

 of chain or wire. These sharp teeth also render them a serious nuisance for the 

 mackerel fishers, since, if they be entangled in a seine, they are very apt to sever the 



Fio. 60. — Squalus acanthias, dog-fish (above), an^Mustelus canis, sea-hound (telow). 



riieshes with their teeth ; and besides they are- very voracious and eat up large numbers 

 of fish. On this account the fishermen in Massachusetts show them little mercy. As 

 soon as caught, they rip them ojjen, take out the liver, and then throw the dog-fish, 

 still able to swim, back into the water, where they die a lingering death. We have 

 already referred to the fact that the livers are used for the oil which they contain. It 

 takes about a thousand livers, when lai-ge and fat, to make a barrel of oil, which is 

 worth, say forty cents a gallon. In Maine, where the catching of dog-fish is more of 

 an industry than in Massachusetts, the bodies of the dog-fish are saved, ground into 



