Fishes. 3057 



Occurrence of the Spiny Shark (Echinorhinus spinosus) at Gamrie. — Perhaps the 

 following particulars may not be without interest as they have reference to an animal 

 , which has not been long introduced into the British Fauna, and a specimen of which, 

 so far as I am aware, has never been met with on any previous occasion, in the seas 

 connected with Scotland. It is the spinous shark (Echinorhinus spinosus ; 'echinos,' 

 a hedgehog; 'rinos,' a skin ; in reference to the spines with which its skin is studded). 

 In a communication from Mr. Thomas Edward, of Banff, he says : " I was down yes- 

 terday (January 1st, 1851), at the rocks of Gamrie ; and my attention was attracted by 

 the screaming of a number of sea-fowl, to an object which was floating in the water 

 at the foot of one of the highest of the cliffs, and around which the birds were eagerly 

 quarrelling and fighting. On approaching, I found that this object was a large fish, 

 or rather the remains of one, upon which the various species of sea-fowl had been 

 feeding : the head had been broken off by being dashed and rubbed against the rocks ; 

 for, to all appearance, the animal had been dead for a long time, and had been much 

 tossed about by the waves. The tail, also, had suffered greatly, and the fins were all 

 more or less broken. The tail was in shape like that of the common dogfish (Acan- 

 thias vulgaris), which is found here. The skin was of a dark blue colour, it had the 

 appearance of leather, and it was thickly beset, or at least had been so, for many of 

 them were injured, with a kind of prickles. These were curved like the talons* of a 

 bird of prey, but were broadest at the base, that is, at the spot where they were attached 

 to the skin or hide. The curve of these prickles or spines inclined from the head 

 backwards in the direction of the tail. From the particular point where the head was 

 broken off to the end of the tail, the length was about two yards. As I surveyed it, a 

 thought struck me that it might be the spinous shark." In order, if possible, to de- 

 termine whether or not this was the case, I sent Mr. Edward the 39th volume of the 

 * Naturalist's Library,' which contains an account, by Dr. Hamilton of Edinburgh, of 

 the Squalidag, a family of the sharks, and in which there is a coloured engraving of the 

 shark of which we are speaking. The figure, although perhaps by no means remark- 

 able as a work of art, and although somewhat carelessly and to all appearance too 

 highly tinted, is nevertheless perfectly sufficient for the identification of the species. 

 In reply, Mr. Edward observes : " I have now no doubt whatever that the animal 

 discovered and examined by me was the spinous shark." In what manner this rarely- 

 seen inhabitant of the deep came by its death, or from how great a distance it had 

 been drifted to the spot where it was discovered, it is, of course, impossible to say. I 

 may further mention that, in May, 1849, a species of shark was captured about three 

 miles off Trouphead (Zool. 2905), by some fishermen belongiug to the village of Pen - 

 nan : it had got entangled upon lines set for cod. When attacked it struggled des- 

 perately. A rope was at length got fastened around its tail ; the sails of the boat were 

 all set; four men pulled hard at the oar; and in this manner, it was dragged with 

 difficulty to the land. When on shore, it was found to be thirteen feet nine inches in 

 length ; and its circumference, where at the thickest, eleven feet. After it had been 

 embowelled, a boy threw into its mouth a piece of tangle at least two inches thick : 

 this it instantly crushed to pieces. By one of the fishermen, who had at one time 



* "These spines," says Dr. Hamilton (' Naturalist's Library,' vol. xxxix. p. 318), 

 " exactly resemble the prickles on the stems of the rose-bush." 



IX. M 



