Sharks of the Western Indian Ocean I —Loxodon Macrorhinus M. & H.

Abstract

This paper is the first of a series intended to assist in the identification of the sharks of the East African coast, where many different species are caught but very little is known about them. There are some easily recognised forms like the tiger shark, the man-eater and the hammerheads, but the majority are "typical" sharks possessing few distinguishing characters. The difficulties of identification are many. It is seldom possible to make direct comparison between fresh specimens of a variable species or even of specimens of similar appearance which are actually of different species. Far less are there chances of comparing one's own material with the types or with specimens whose descriptions have been published. The literature is scanty to say the least, and the original works are hard to come by. Most of the recorded descriptions are based on single specimens, and as changes in proportion occur with growth these descriptions are often misleading, those of adults not being necessarily applicable to juveniles and vice versa. The size reached at sexual maturity is taken as a general rule to be about the full stature of the species. But growth in the sea is not limited by all the factors that control the size of land animals, and there is, as far as I know, no proof of the cessation of grow thafter maturity.