Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
OCELLATED DOG-FISH.
So called from the presence of the eye-like spots on the body, two of which can be seen above the breast-fins.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
INDIAN STRING-RAY.
The tail is armed with a powerful poison-spine.
Generally speaking, then, the sharks are cartilaginous fishes, having the upper lobe of the tail larger than the lower, a shovel-shaped snout, and the crescent-shaped mouth beneath the head. Another peculiar feature of the group is the presence of breathing-spiracles behind the eyes; while the latter have a manner of blinking not found in other fishes. Of the teeth, which differ in structure from those of other kinds of fishes, there are several rows. The gill-openings are lateral, and usually number five, though one species has six and another seven. With the exception of the afore-mentioned Basking-shark and the Port Jackson Shark, which the writer met with in Australia, they are all more or less dangerous; and when of insufficient size to be harmful to man, do great damage among the lines and nets of the fishermen. Indeed, the late Matthias Dunn of Mevagissey seriously urged on the Admiralty to dynamite them in the interests of the fishing industry. Most of the sharks deposit their eggs in the curious oblong vessels known by those who pick up the disused cases on the foreshore as "purses"; and these attach themselves to rocks and stones by long tendrils that cling to every support. A number of species (the Porbeagle and Tope among British kinds), however, bring forth their young alive.
