Largest Shark Is Harmless

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 8 (Supplement)

Largest Shark Is Harmless

I AM indebted to Messrs. J. D. Mansell and J. H. Talbot, both of Opotiki. for some particulars concerning a giant shark which washed ashore near Te Kaha some weeks ago. Phis monster had a length of 28ft 6in and a girth of I 2 ft. It is described as having eight pairs of gills, each fringed with long comb-like processes and hundreds of tiny conical teeth. This description determine* tho fish definitely n« tho basking shark or rcremai, Cetorhinua maximus, a rare visitor in those waters.

Tho bnakinpf shark i* among the Impost, of lh u living n*ho«, examples being known to reach 4oft in length and Willi a weight of up to BUOOIb. The liver in fuch a specimen taken at Monterey, California, weighed 210011) and produced (iO per cent of oil. Because of tho enormous sizo of this fish, and the difficulty in handling, tho basking shark is not exploited as it could be. Ordinary Ashing bonta aro too small and whalers too largo to handle theae fl«h profitably. In California the meat of this fish is used in tho manufacture of fertiliser* and chicken feed, the oil from the liver also being extracted for medicinal and industrial purposes. The flesh te claimed by some people to bo of superb quality.

Tlioto ia only ono specie* of backing shark; it usually congregates in schools and 1* known from all the temperate. ooennie regions. It derive* its name from tho poctiliar habit of lying motionIcbh in the sunshino at the surface.

Tn «piU> of it* huge bulk tho basking shark is quite harmless, its teeth being little morn than a quarter of an inch In holpht «nd blunt. Clearly these teeth hnvo degenerated from disuse, for thi* harmless creature, like many of the great whales, has developed a diet consisting of small organism*.

An interesting point of parallelism between this shark and the baleen or "whale-hone" whale*, for the gills of tho basking shark are fringed with long flexible comb-like structures about four or Ave inches in length. These gfllrakcrs, as they are termed, serve the same purpose as the baleen-plates in whales, namely to strain out the catch from tho volume of water engulfed with each mouthful.

Tho first recorded basking shark for New Zealand was in November, 1880, when a specimen 34ft 3in in length and with a girth of 20ft Din washed ashore at the Wade and warn later exhibited at Dovonport. The late Mr. T. F. Cheeseman who recorded this specimen mentioned that Mr. "R. H. Shakeapear of Whangapnrom had seen several individuals of the same species each spring for some years off the Whangaparoa Peninsula. Tho basking shark appears to be most abundant In the North Atlantic, especially around Scotland and the Orkneys. In Norway it is the oocaalon of a conslclcrablo fishery on account of it* liver. Strangely enough the basking shark has only once been seen in New South Wales waters, and I know of only on* record from Vietori*, on* eanght at Portland. Port Phillip, in November, 1883. Largo shoals of these shark*, some 30ft in length and weighing over six ton* recently visited the Firth of Clyde, eaneing havoc among fishermen's net*. Although these fish do not attack human beings, their weight and power mnko them dangerous to small craft. On the first of last month, a large one leapt out of tho water in Carradale Bay, Kintyrc, on the fishing boat Eagle which was holed and overturned, three of the flvo occupants being drowned. Three days Inter the fishing boat Lady Charlotto of 20 tons was charged off the Fallen Rocks. Arran, by one of these monsters which struck the' propeller

a glancing blow. The stern was lifted three feet oat of the water, the propeller abaft smashed tad the engine put out of action.

It ie believed by some authorities that the mysterious Loch Ness monster is nothing mora than a basking shark; the long erect and narrow dermal fin which may be five or six feet in length could Juite reasonably have bean mistaken or the alleged long neck of the "monater," and the fact that a fair area of the dorsal surface of this shark shows above the water would complete the illusion thai the "monster" resembled one of the extinct Plesiosaurs of the distant Metozoie Era.

The tasking shark is eclipsed by the great whale shark, a rare inhabitant of tropic seas, which may attain a length of 60ft. The whale shark is conspicuous on account of its striking colour pattern of buff spots and stripes on a dark ground. In many respect* it i* similar to the basking shark, having email conical teeth, but even emaller, rarely exceeding one-eighth of an inch in height. Also the gills are fitted with long comb-like rakers adapted for a type of food similar to that of the backing shark, for it is known that the whale shark feeds entirely on small swimming crabs, jelly-fishes and other surface organisms.

In the issue of February, 1930, of the American journal "Field and Stream" there is an interesting table of recordsized fiali, interesting to us in particular for three of the records are New Zealand caught fish. The following six records may be of interest to readers.—

1. Pacific black merlin, Makaira nigricans marline, 9761b, 12ft Sin in length, 6ft 2in in girth, Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Caught by Captain Laurie Mitchell, February 25, 1936.

2. Striped merlin, Makaira mitsukurii, 10401b, 14ft 2in in length, 6ft Oin in pirth, Tahiti. Caught by Mr. Zane Grey, May 10, 1930.

By . .'. A. W. B. POWELL

3. Swordfish or broadbill, Xiphias gladius, 83751b, 13ft 2in in length, Tocopilla, Chile. Caught by Mr. W. E. S. Tuker, August 28, 1934.

4. Mako shark, burue glaueiw. 7981b, lift 6in in length, Bay of Islands. Caught by Mr. White Wickman, January 23, 1931.

5. Kingfish, Regificola grandis; 1111b. Bay of Islands. Caught by Mr. Zane Grey, 1926.

6. Ocean sunftah, Mola mola, 20001b, harpooned at Santa (atalina, California, by Mr. van Campen Hcilner, September, 1919.