CARCHARIID^E. 291 



Means of capture. — Often by drift nets of pilchard fishers, when it does great 

 injury to the fishing gear by rolling itself in the net, or cuts it with its teeth. 

 After capture, if large, care has to be taken that it does not injure anyone with 

 its tail. It is generally killed by a blow on the snout. It takes a bait readily, 

 and Mr. Dunn has noted that ten were thus caught in one day in August, 1883, off 

 Mevagissey. 



Diseases. — The nostrils are subject to disease, resulting from the irritation of 

 animalcule, and Mr. G. Bennett recorded how a specimen of this fish was affected 

 from this cause. In Ireland (vol. i, page 109) a sucking fish, Echeneis remora, 

 was found attached to one. 



Uses. — Oil is extracted from its liver in Cornwall for medicinal purposes ; its 

 flesh is not eaten. 



Habitat. — Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and temperate waters of Europe, not 

 being rare in the Mediterranean. 



It appears to have been once captured in Jutland, but is not generally found 

 in the northern seas, while some of those taken on the east coast were possibly 

 " topes." At. St. Andrew's, not uncommon in the bay : captured by the fisher- 

 men in the salmon nets (Mcintosh). One 4 feet long taken by line fishermen 

 off South Shields, November 3rd, 1881 (W. Yellowby). Has been frequently 

 caught off Whitby, and occasionally off other parts of the Yorkshire coast 

 (Fauna, p. 99). One 5 feet 4 inches long was recorded as stranded at Yarmouth, 

 December 19th, 1866 (T. S. Gunn). One, which was 6 feet long, and weighed 

 60 lb., was similarly left by the tide, November 3rd, 1867 (Zool. p. 1256). 

 Found more frequently on the Devonshire and Cornish coasts than on any other 

 part of the British Isles (Yarrell). One 8 feet long was taken off Plymouth, 

 September, 1876 (Gatcombe, Zool. 1877, p. 26),. and another between 7 and 

 8 feet long on November 13th, 1883 (Gatcombe) ; while in Cornwall it is 

 abundant during the latter part of the summer and early in the autumn (Couch). 

 Isle of Man (Garner). 



Ireland. — Taken on the coast, chiefly southwards (Thompson) ; Nymph Band 

 and Youghal (Ball) ; Courtmasherry and Galway (Allman). " Some examples 

 were taken by me on conger lines this year ; the largest was over 6 feet long. I 

 do not think it is rare. They do great mischief to nets " (J. Blake-Knox, Zool. 

 1866, p. 509, on the Fishes of Dublin Bay). 



The one figured is a young male, 37 inches long, captured in a pilchard net 

 at Mevagissey in August, 1883. Although this species is said to attain to 25 feet 

 or even more, in length, it is not seen so large off our coasts. One 8 feet 

 3 inches long was taken at Fowey on a line, September, 1868 (Chimo). 

 Thompson mentions one 10 feet 1 inch long, captured near Clontarf Wall in 

 July, 1846, and a stuffed specimen 11 feet long from the English coast is in 

 the British Museum. 



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