DO SHARKS HARBOUR THEIR YOUNG?

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 2, 17 April 1880, Page 2 (Supplement)

DO SHARKS HARBOUR THEIR YOUNG?

An interesting specimen of porbeagh shark (Lanma punctataj was caught recently off Great Neck, L. I. It was a female, and was sent to Mr. E. G. Blackf ord, of that city, who says: "When I received her she had not been dead more than- Beven hours. Prom the immense size of her Btomach, I thought she must have swallowed a barrel or two of moss bunkers, and to gratify my curiosity I opened her. Imagine my surprise when, instead of moss bunkers, I found ten little sharks, evidently her offspring,- and all just (the same size— exactly two feet long. I should say they were about six months old for a young shark when hatched from the egg measures about four inches*. ' It has been a disputed question among fishermen for some time, whether young^harks, in time of danger, do not seek safety in their mother's stomach. I think this case proves that they do, for the little ones were perfectly sound j there was no mark on them as if digestion had begun, and I have not a doubt but that if the mother had not been captured, as soon as the excitement was over, the little ones would have worked their way out. into salt water again, and in due time been big enough to give some unfortunate fisherman considerable trouble." The specimen measured six feet eleven inches in length, and was captured |in a school of moss bunkers ox m(mhw&m.—BcjcntijwJ.mmcari.