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ENORMOUS BASKING SHARK Clumsy Spiritless Fish of Tonnage in the Pacific PacificSAN SAN FRANCISCO Cal December 11 The taking in Monterey Bay by the Santa Cruz fishermen of u huge basking shark weighing almost two tons a fish eighteen and onehalf feet long calls attention to how big the secies grow According to Dr David Starr Jordan the basking shark reaches a length of thirtysix feet feetDr Dr Jordan writes It is a dull and sluggish aminal f the northern seas almost as inert as a sawlog ofton flouting slowly southward in pairs in the spring and caught occasionally by whalers for its liver liverWhen When caught its huge flabby head spreads out wide on the ground its weight in connection with the great size of the mouth cavity rendering it shapeless shapelessAlthough Although so clumsy and without spirit it is said that a blow with its tail will crush an ordinary whaleboat whaleboatThe The buskin shark is known on all northern coasts but hiis most frequently been taken in the North Sea and about Monterey Bay in California From this locality specimen have been sent to the chief museums of Europe In EuropeIn its external characters the basking shark has much in ifunmon with the man cater Its body is however relatively clumsy forward its fins are lower and its gill openings are much broader almost meeting the throat The great difference lies in the teeth which in Cetorhiiuis are small and weak about 200 HI each row Tlie basking shark also called elephant shark and bone shark does not pursue its prey but feeds on small creatures to be taken without effort effortFossil Fossil teeth of Cetorhinus have been found from the Cretaceous as also fossil gill rakers structures which in this shark are so long as to suggest whale ¬ bone
