Shark, in ichthyology; a genus arranged by Linnaeus under the class of amphibia, and the order of nantes, but by Gmelin referred to the class of pisces, and order of chondropterygii. The head is obtuse; on the sides of the neck there are from 4 to 7 semilunar spiracles. The eyes are oblong, vertical, half covered, and before the foramen temporale. The mouth is situated in the anterior and lower part of the head, and is armed with several rows of teeth, which are serrated, acute, partly moveable and partly fixed, and unequal in form. The body is oblong, tapering and rough, with very tender prickles. The ventral fins are much less than the pectoral, and are situated round the anus and genitals. There are 32 species; the ifabella canicula or greater dog fish; catulus or smaller dog fish; stellaris; galeus or tope; mustelus or smooth hound; cirratus; barbatus or barbu; tigrinus or tigre; Africanus or galonne; ocellatus or oeille; zygana or balance-fish; tiburo or pantouflier of Broussonet; grifetus or grifet; vulpes or sea-fox; longicaudus; glaucus or blue shark; cornubius; porbeagle, or beaumaris-shark; cinereus or perlon; maximus; carcharias or white shark; prifitis or scie; spinosus or bouclé; acanthias or picked dog fish; fernandinus; spinax or lagre; squamosus or ecaillieux; centrina or humantin; indicus; Americanus or liche; squalina or angel fish; massafa; and kumal. The following are the most remarkable:

1. The ifabella has a wrinkly spotted skin, and the anterior dorsal fin is perpendicular to the abdominal fins. The body is somewhat flat; the head short, large, and Squalus. obtuse. The teeth are disposed in five rows, compressed, short, and triangular, having a notch on each side of their bases. The eyes are sunk; the iris is of a copper colour, and the pupil is black and oblong. The fins of the back are almost square; the caudal fin is divided into two lobes, and the lateral line is parallel to the back. The upper part of the body is of a reddish ash-colour, with blackish spots disposed irregularly. The under part is of a dirty white hue. This species is found near New Zealand, and is about 2½ feet long.

2. Canicula, greater dog-fish, or spotted shark, is distinguished by large nostrils, which are covered by a lobe and worm-shaped flap, or by the position of the anal fin, which is at an equal distance from the anus and tail. The body is spotted; the head is small, with a short snout; the eyes are oblong; the iris whitish; the mouth is large and oblong, armed with three rows of teeth; the tongue is cartilaginous; the anus is before the middle of the body; the first dorsal fin is behind the ventral fins; the other, which is less, is almost opposite the anal fin; the caudal fin is narrow and margined. This species is found in almost every sea, is about four feet long, extremely voracious, generally feeding on fishes, and is long lived. The skin, which is spotted like a leopard's, is used when dried for various purposes.

3. Catulus, smaller dog-fish, has a large head; the pupil of the eyes is black; the iris white; the snout is of a bright hue; the mouth, which is large, is situated between the nostrils, and is armed with four rows of teeth, serrated with three points bent inwards; those in the middle between the two mandibles are longer than the rest. The tongue is broad and smooth; the spiracles are five; the back is tapering and yellowish; the sides are somewhat compressed; the tail longer than the body, and the caudal fin is narrow and margined; the anterior anal and dorsal fins are behind the ventral; the posterior dorsal fin is opposite to the anal. It inhabits the Mediterranean, Northern, and Indian Ocean, and is two or three feet long.

4. Stellaria, or greater cat fish. The head is marked with points; the abdominal fins are united and sharp at the apex; the dorsal fins extend almost to the tail; the skin is reddish, marked with black spots of different sizes, and is of a dirty ash colour below. It is from two to five feet long; resembles the canicula, but distinguished by larger and fewer spots, by a snout somewhat longer, a tail somewhat shorter, and nostrils almost shut. It brings forth 19 or 20 young at a time. It inhabits the European seas, living chiefly on shell fish, molluscs, and other small fishes. The dorsal fins are equal; the anterior one being behind the middle of the body, and the posterior one being a little behind the anal.

5. Tigrinus, or tigre, is about 5 feet long; the body is long, of unequal thickness, black, interspersed with white stripes and spots, irregularly and transversely. The head is large; the mouth low and transverse, the upper jaw having two curls; the upper lip is thick and prominent; there are five spiracles on each side, the two last being united so as to give the appearance only of four; the mandibles are armed with very small pointed teeth; the tongue is short and thick; the eyes small and oblong; the pupil azure coloured; the iris black. The abdomen is broad; the pectoral fins are broad, and rounded at the extremity. The anterior dorsal is opposed to the ventral fins, and the posterior dorsal fin to the anal. The tail is compressed on both sides, and the fin which terminates it is hollow. The tigrinus is found in the Indian Ocean, and lives chiefly on shell fish. See Plate CCCCLXXVI. fig. 1.

7. Zygena, marleau, or balance-fish, is frequently six feet long, and weighs 500 lbs. The head is elongated on each side; the fore part is bent back, and convex both above and below. At the extremities of the elongated part are the eyes, which are large, prominent, and directed downwards; the iris is of a golden colour; the mouth is arched, and near the beginning of the trunk. It has a horrible appearance from the teeth, which are arranged in three or four rows, and are broad, pointed, and serrated on both sides. The tongue is thick, broad, and like a man's. The trunk is long and tapering; the fins are semicircular on the margin, and black at the basis; the ventral fins are separate; the anal and posterior dorsal fins are small; the anterior dorsal fin is large, and near the head; the caudal is long.—This species inhabits the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is one of the most voracious of the whole tribe. See fig. 2.

8. Vulpes, or sea-fox, is most remarkable for the great length of its tail, the body being about seven feet and the tail five feet long. The head is short and conical; the eyes are large; the jaws are armed in a dreadful manner with three rows of triangular, compressed, and pointed teeth; the tongue is blunt; the lateral line is straight. The anterior dorsal fin is placed about the middle of the back; the posterior, which consists of two pointed lobes, is opposite to the anal fin; the ventral fins are very near one another; the anal is acuminate; the inferior lobe of the tail is about a foot long; the upper, which is shaped like a scythe, is five times longer. This species inhabits the Mediterranean, the coast of Scotland and England. It is covered with small scales; its back is ash-coloured, belly whitish. It is extremely voracious. The ancients styled this fish αλαγεις, and vulpes, from its supposed cunning. They believed, that when it had the misfortune to have taken a bait, it swallowed the hook till it got at the cord, which it bit off, and so escaped.

9. Glauces, or blue shark, is about seven feet long. The colour of the back is a fine blue; the belly a silvery white; the head is flat; the eyes small and roundish; the teeth are almost triangular, elongated, and pointed, but not serrated. The anus is very near the tail; the anterior dorsal fin is situated before the ventral fins, about the middle of the body, and is almost triangular; the posterior dorsal fin is equal to the anal fin, and is placed nearer the tail; the pectoral fins are large, long, and margined; and the ventral are blue above and white below; the caudal is blue, divided into two lobes, of which the superior is much longer than the inferior lobe. This species is frequent in every sea, and is fierce, but not very destructive in our seas.

10. Tl. maximus, basking shark, or the sun-fish of the Irish. This species has been long known to the inhabitants of the south and west of Ireland and Scotland, and those of Caernarvonshire and Anglesea; but having never been considered in any other than a commercial view, is described by no English writer except Mr Pennant; and, what is worse, mistaken for and confounded with the luna of Rondeletius, the same Squid, that our English writers call the sun-fish. The Irish and Welsh give it the same name, from its lying as if to fun itself on the surface of the water; and for the same reason Mr Pennant calls it the basking shark. It was long taken for a species of whale, till Mr Pennant pointed out the bronchial orifices on the sides, and the perpendicular site of the tail. There are migratory fish, or at least it is but in a certain number of years that they are seen in multitudes on the Welsh seas, though in most summers a single, and perhaps a strayed fish appears. They inhabit the northern seas, even as high as the arctic circle. They visited the bays of Caernarvonshire and Anglesea in vast shoals in the summers of 1756 and a few succeeding years, continuing there only the hot months; for they quitted the coast about Michaelmas, as if cold weather was disagreeable to them. Some old people say they recollect the same sort of fish visiting these seas in vast numbers about 40 years ago. They appear in the Frith of Clyde, and among the Hebrides, in the month of June, in small droves of seven or eight, but oftener in pairs. They continue in those seas till the latter end of July, when they disappear.

They have nothing of the fierce and voracious nature of the shark kind, and are so tame as to suffer themselves to be stroked; they generally lie motionless on the surface, commonly on their bellies, but sometimes, like tired swimmers, on their backs. Their food seems to consist entirely of sea plants, no remains of fish being ever discovered in the stomachs of numbers that were cut up, except some green stuff, the half digested parts of algae, and the like. Linnaeus says it feeds on medusa.

At certain times, they are seen sporting on the waves, and leaping with vast agility several feet out of the water. They swim very deliberately, with the dorsal fins above water. Their length is from three to twelve yards, and sometimes even longer. Their form is rather slender, like others of the shark kind. The upper jaw is much longer than the lower, and blunt at the end. The tail is very large, and the upper part remarkably longer than the lower. The colour of the upper part of the body is a deep leaden; the belly white. The skin is rough like shagreen, but less so on the belly than the back. In the mouth, towards the throat, is a very short sort of whale-bone. The liver is of a great size, but that of the female is the largest; some weigh above 1000 pounds, and yield a great quantity of pure and sweet oil, fit for lamps, and also much used to cure bruises, burns, and rheumatic complaints. A large fish has afforded to the captors a profit of £20. They are viviparous; a young one about a foot in length being found in the belly of a fish of this kind. The measurements of one found dead on the shore of Loch Ranza in the isle of Arran were as follow: The whole length, 27 feet 4 inches; first dorsal fin, 3 feet; second, 1 foot; pectoral fin, 4 feet; ventral, 2 feet; the upper lobe of the tail, 5 feet; the lower, 3.

They will permit a boat to follow them, without accelerating their motion till it comes almost within contact when a harpooner strikes his weapon into them, as near to the gills as possible. But they are often so insensible as not to move till the united strength of two men have forced in the harpoon deeper. As soon as they perceive themselves wounded, they fling up their tail and plunge headlong to the bottom; and frequently coil the rope round them in their agonies, attempting to disengage the harpoon by rolling on the ground, for it is often found greatly bent. As soon as they discover that their efforts are in vain, they swim away with amazing rapidity, and with such violence, that there has been an instance of a vessel of 70 tons having been towed away against a fresh gale. They sometimes run off with 200 fathoms of line, and with two harpoons in them; and will employ the fishers for 12, and sometimes for 24 hours, before they are subdued. When killed, they are either hauled on shore, or, if at a distance from land, to the vessel's side. The liver (the only useful part), is taken out, and melted into oil in kettles provided for that purpose. A large fish will yield eight barrels of oil, and two of worthless sediment.

II. Carcharias, requin, or white shark, is often 30 feet long, and according to Gillius weighs 4000 pounds. The mouth of this fish is sometimes furnished with a six-fold row of teeth, flat, triangular, and exceedingly sharp at their edges, and finely serrated. Mr Pennant had one rather more than an inch and a half long. Grew says, that those in the jaws of a shark two yards in length are not half an inch; so that the fish to which this tooth belonged must have been five yards long, provided the teeth and body keep pace in their growth.

This dreadful apparatus, when the fish is in a state of repose, lies quite flat in the mouth; but when he seizes his prey, he has power of erecting them by the help of a set of muscles that join them to the jaw. The mouth is placed far beneath; for which reason these, as well as the rest of the kind, are said to be obliged to turn on their backs to seize their prey; which is an observation as ancient as the days of Pliny. The eyes are large; the back broad, flat, and shorter than that of other sharks. The tail is of a semilunar form, but the upper part is longer than the lower. It has vast strength in the tail, and can strike with great force; so that the sailors instantly cut it off with an axe as soon as they draw one on board. The pectoral fins are very large, which enables it to swim with great swiftness. The colour of the whole body and fins is a light ash. The ancients were acquainted with this fish; and Oppian gives a long and entertaining account of its capture. Their flesh is sometimes eaten, but is esteemed coarse and rank.—They are the dread of the sailors in all hot climates, where they constantly attend the ships in expectation of what may drop over-board: a man that has had that misfortune perishes without redemption; they have been seen to dart at him like gadgeons at a worm. A matter of a Guinea ship informed Mr Pennant, that a rage of suicide prevailed among his new-bought slaves, from a notion the unhappy creatures had, that after death they should be restored again to their families, friends, and country. To convince them at least that they should not reanimate their bodies, he ordered one of their corpses to be tied by the heels to a rope and lowered into the sea; and though it was drawn up again as fast as the united force of the crew could be exerted, yet in that short space the sharks had devoured every part but the feet, which were secured at the end of the cord.

Swimmers very often perish by them; sometimes they lose an arm or leg, and sometimes are bit quite asunder, serving but for two morsels for this ravenous animal: a melancholy tale of this kind is related in a West India ballad, preserved in Dr Percy's Relics of ancient English Poetry.

This species inhabits the abyss of the ocean, and only appears on the surface when allured by its prey. It is the most voracious of all animals, not even it is said sparing its own offspring, and often swallowing its prey entire. At the famous naval battle of the 12th of April 1782, when the Caesar, one of the French ships of the line, was set on fire, the sailors threw themselves into the sea, Sir Charles Douglas observed great numbers of these sharks, which lay between the French and British fleets, instantly seize on the unhappy victims. He several times saw two of them disputing about their prey, each seizing a leg, and at length disappearing, dragging the body along with them. Notwithstanding the continued roar of artillery, he heard distinctly the cries of those unhappy men.

12. Pristis, fœc., or saw-fish, is sometimes 15 feet long, smooth, black on the upper parts, ash coloured on the sides, and white underneath. The head is flat and conical; the beak or snout projecting from the nose is about five feet long, covered with a coriaceous skin, and armed on each side generally with 24 long, strong, and sharp-pointed teeth; but the number varies with age. The teeth are granulated; the eyes large, the iris of a golden colour, and the spiracles five. The anterior dorsal fin corresponds to those of the belly; the posterior is situated in the middle, between the former and apex of the tail; the pectoral fins are broad and long; the caudal is shorter than in the other species. It inhabits all the seas from Greenland to Brazil; and is found also in the Indian Ocean. It is harmless.

13. Spinax, sagre, or picked dog-fish, takes its name from a strong and sharp spine placed just before each of the back-fins, distinguishing it at once from the rest of the British sharks. The nose is long, and extends greatly beyond the mouth, but is blunt at the end. The teeth are disposed in two rows, are small and sharp, and bend from the middle of each jaw towards the corners of the mouth. The back is of a brownish ash-colour; the belly white.—It grows to the weight of about 20 pounds. This species swarms on the coasts of Scotland, where it is taken, split, and dried; and is a food among the common people. It forms a part of inland commerce, being carried on women's backs 14 or 16 miles up the country, and sold or exchanged for necessaries.

14. Squatina, angel-fish, is from six to eight feet long, has a large head; teeth broad at their base, but slender and very sharp above, and disposed in five rows all round the jaws. Like those of all sharks, they are capable of being raised or depressed by means of muscles uniting them to the jaws, not being lodged in sockets as the teeth of cetaceous fish are. The back is of a pale ash-colour, and very rough; along the middle is a prickly tuberculated line; the belly is white and smooth. The pectoral fins are very large, and extend horizontally from the body to a great distance; they have some resemblance to wings, whence its name. The ventral fins are placed in the same manner, and the double penis is placed in them; which forms another character of the males in this genus.

This is the fish which connects the genus of rays and sharks, partaking something of the character of both; yet is an exception to each in the situation of the mouth, which is placed at the extremity of the head. It is a fish not unfrequent on most of our coasts, where it prowls about for prey like others of the kind. It is extremely voracious; and, like the ray, feeds on flounders and flat fish, which keep at the bottom of the water. It is extremely fierce, and dangerous to be approached. Mr Pennant mentions a fisherman whose leg was terribly torn by a large one of this species, which lay within his nets in shallow water, and which he went to lay hold of cautiously. The aspect of these, as well as the rest of the genus, have much malignity in them; their eyes are oblong, and placed lengthwise in their head, sunk in it, and overhung by the skin, and seem fuller of malevolence than fire. Their skin is very rough; the ancients made use of it to polish wood and ivory, as we do at present that of the greater dog-fish. The flesh is now but little esteemed on account of its coarseness and rankness; yet Archestratus (as quoted by Athenæus, p. 319.), speaking of the fish of Miletus, gives this the first place, in respect to delicacy, of the whole cartilaginous tribe. They grow to a great size; being sometimes near an hundred weight.

Sharks are seldom destructive in the temperate regions; it is in the torrid zone that their ravages are most frequent. In the West Indies accidents happen from them almost every day.

"During the American war in 1780, while the Pal-Mofley's frigate was lying in Kingston harbour, a young North American jumped overboard one evening to make his escape, and perished by a shark in a shocking manner.

"He had been captured in a small vessel, lost all his property, and was detained by compulsion in the English navy, to serve in a predatory war against his country. But he, animated with that spirit which pervaded every bosom in America, resolved, as soon as he arrived at some port, to release himself from the mortifying state of employing his life against his country, which, as he said when dying, he was happy to lay down, as he could not employ it against her enemies.

"He plunged into the water; the Pallas was a quarter of a mile from the shore. A shark perceived him, and followed him, very quietly, till he came to a flate of reft, near the shore: where, as he was hanging by a rope, that moored a vessel to a wharf, scarcely out of his depth, the shark seized his right leg, and stripped the flesh entirely away from the bones, and took the foot off at the ankle. He still kept his hold, and called to the people in the vessel near him, who were standing on the deck and saw the affair. The shark then seized his other leg, which the man by his struggling disengaged from his teeth, but with the flesh cut through down to the bone, into a multitude of narrow slips. The people in the vessel threw billets of wood into the water, and frightened the shark away. The young man was brought on shore. Dr Mofley was called to him; but he had lost so much blood before any affiance could be given him, that he expired before the mangled limbs could be taken off.

"A few weeks before this accident happened, a shark, of 12 feet in length, was caught in the harbour; and..." on being opened, the entire head of a man was found in his stomach. The scalp, and flesh of the face, were macerated to a soft pulpy substance; which, on being touched, separated entirely from the bones. The bones were somewhat softened, and the futures loosened."

The following extraordinary instance of intrepidity and friendship is well worth recording. It is given on the authority of Mr Hughes, who published a natural history of Barbadoes. About the latter end of Queen Anne's wars, captain John Beanis, commander of the York Merchant, arrived at Barbadoes from England. Having disembarked the last part of his lading, which was coals, the sailors, who had been employed in that dirty work, ventured into the sea to wash themselves; there they had not been long before one on board espied a large shark making toward them, and gave them notice of their danger; upon which they swam back, and all reached the boat except one; him the monitor overtook almost within reach of the oars, and gripping him by the small of his back, soon cut him adrift, and as soon swallowed the lower part of his body; the remaining part was taken up and carried on board, where a comrade of his was, whose friendship with the deceased had been long distinguished by a reciprocal discharge of all such endearing offices as implied an union and sympathy of souls. When he saw the severed trunk of his friend, it was with an horror and emotion too great for words to paint. During this affecting scene, the infatiate shark was seen traversing the bloody surface in search of the remainder of his prey; the rest of the crew thought themselves happy in being on board, he alone unhappy, that he was not within reach of the destroyer. Fired at the sight, and vowing that he would make the devourer disgorge, or be swallowed himself in the same grave, he plunges into the deep, armed with a sharp-pointed knife. The shark no sooner saw him, but he made furiously toward him; both equally eager, the one of his prey, the other of revenge. The moment the shark opened his rapacious jaws, his adversary dexterously diving, and grasping him with his left hand somewhat below the upper fins, successfully employed his knife in his right hand, giving him repeated stabs in the belly; the enraged shark, after many unavailing efforts, finding himself overmatched in his own element, endeavoured to disengage himself, sometimes plunging to the bottom, then mad with pain, rearing his uncouth form, now stained with his own streaming blood, above the foaming waves. The crews of the surrounding vessels saw the unequal combat, uncertain from which of the combatants the streams of blood issued; till at length the shark, much weakened by the loss of blood, made toward the shore, and with him his conqueror; who, flushed with an assurance of victory, pushed his foe with redoubled ardour, and, by the help of an ebbing tide, dragged him on shore, ripped up his bowels, and united and buried the fevered carcass of his friend.

"It is evident (says Dr Mosley, to whose valuable work we are indebted for the story of the American related above), that digestion in these animals is not performed by trituration, nor by the muscular action of the stomach; though nature has furnished them with a stomach of wonderful force and thickness, and far exceeding that of any other creature. Whatever their force of digestion is, it has no effect upon their young ones, which always retreat into their stomachs in time Squamaris of danger.

"That digestion is not performed by heat in fish, is equally evident. Being on the Banks of Newfoundland in August 1782, I opened many cod-fish, and ripped up their stomachs just as they came alive out of the water; in which were generally found small oysters, mussels, cockles, and crabs, as well as small fishes of their own and other species. The coldness of the stomach of these fishes is far greater than the temperature of the water out of which they are taken; or of any other part of the fish, or of any other substance of animated nature I ever felt. On wrapping one of them round my hand, immediately on being taken out of the fish, it caused so much aching and numbness that I could not endure it long."