SPINACID^F. 3-23 



Genus IV — Echinorhinus, Blainville. 



Goniodus, Agassiz. Gentrophorus, Swainson. 



Spiracles present. Mouth crescentic, xoith a well-developed labial groove. No 

 nictitating membrane to the eye. Teeth in both jaivs flattened from side to side, with 

 smooth cutting edges and with the points turning outwards, and below which are two 

 or more cusps. Two dorsal fins, both spineless and small, and situated in the hind 

 portion of the body, either opposite to or behind the ventrals. Pectoral and caudal but 

 slightly developed and no pit at the base of the latter fin. Gill-openings of moderate 

 width. Skin with scattered, round or oval osseous tubercles of varying sizes, some of 

 which have a spinate centre. 



1. Echinorhinus spinosus, Plate CLXII, fig. 2. 



Le chien de mer boucle, Broussonet, Mem. de l'Acad. des Sci. 1780, p. 672. 



Squalus spinosus, Gmel. Linn. p. 1500 ; Lacepede, i, p. 283, pi. iii, f . 2 ; Bl. 

 Schn. p. 136 ; Risso, Ich. Nice, p. 42. 



Squalus brucus, Bonnaterre, Ency Ich. p. 11. 



Scymmis spinosus, Cuv. Regne Anim. ; Risso, Eur. Merid. iii, p. 136. 



Echinorhinus spinosus, Blainville, Bull. Sci. 1816, p. 121, and Fauna France, 

 p. 66 ; Bonap. Fauna Ital. Peso. pi. cxxxviii ; Miiller and Henle, p. 96, pi. lx 

 (skin) ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (ed. 2) ii, p. 532, c. fig. (ed. 3) ii, p. 529 ; Strick- 

 land, An. Nat. Hist. 1840, iv, p. 315; Cocks, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1850, v, 

 p. 71 ; Costa, Fauna Nap. Chond. t. xvi ; Gray, Choncl. p. 78 ; White, Catal. 

 p. 132; Dumeril, Ich. i, p. 459; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 428; Canestrini, Fauna 

 d'ltal. Pesc. p. 42 ; Moreau, Poiss. de la France, i, p. 363, f. 64, 65 ; Giglioli, 

 Pesc. Ital. Cat. p. 53. 



Goniodus spinosus, Agassiz, Poiss. Foss. iii, t. E, f. 13. 



Gentrophorus spinosus, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 315. 



JEchinorhinus obesus, Smith, 111. Zool. S. Africa, Pise. pi. i. 



Spinous shark, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 54, pi. xii. 



Considerable differences, perhaps due to age or condition, are apparent in this 

 fish, some of which are more elongated than others, but all intermediate shapes 

 appear to have been captured off our shores. The one figured is an elongated 

 example. Yarrell figures both forms. Body fusiform with the dorsal and 

 abdominal profiles nearly parallel. Gape of mouth wide, a deep pit above the 

 angles. Eyes — oval, rather large and placed above and rather in front of the 

 angle of the mouth. Spiracle small, situated a short distance behind the eye. 

 Nostrils midway between the mouth and the end of the snout. Teeth — similar in 

 both jaws, flattened from side to side with the upper edges smooth and cutting, 

 and ending in a strong point laterally on either side and two or three cusps 

 below it. There are several rows but only one in use at a time. Those figured 

 (plate clxii, 2 a.) are from a specimen nearly seven feet long. Branchial openings 

 rather wide, the first shortest and further from the second than the last two are 

 apart, and all anterior to the pectoral fin. Fins — the pectoral rather small, and 

 somewhat quadrangular. Ventral with rather an elongated base equalling the 

 distance from the spiracle to the end of the snout, it commences midway between 

 the front gill-opening and end of the caudal fin in elongated forms ; or anterior 

 end of the snout and middle of the caudal fin as observed in the Plymouth and 

 Aberdeen stouter specimens. First dorsal small and situated above the middle of 

 the ventral, second dorsal of nearly similar size and midway 1 etween the first and 

 base of the caudal fin, the latter badly developed and no pit at its base. Skin — 

 irregularly studded with rounded and flattened button-shaped bony scales, many 

 of which have a spine, often broken, rising from the centre and with radiated 

 bases somewhat similar to what is seen in the thomback and other rays ; some of 

 these spines are straight, others curved, and though most are directed backwards, 

 some look downwards and a few forwards. In some places many coalesce 



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