General guide to the exhibition halls of the American Museum of Natural History . er-head Shark. The strange flat- tened and widened face of this shark seemsto serve as a bow-rudder, which is used inmaking very quick turns in pursuit of occasionally reaches a length of 12 feet.(6) Sand Shark. This shark may be recog-nized by its combination of a delicate noseand unreduced second dorsal fin. The sandshark captures great numbers of small fish,which are its chief diet. There is no recordthat it attacks man. The Systematic Exhibit includes a rep-resentative series of fishes, from the lowly
General guide to the exhibition halls of the American Museum of Natural History . er-head Shark. The strange flat- tened and widened face of this shark seemsto serve as a bow-rudder, which is used inmaking very quick turns in pursuit of occasionally reaches a length of 12 feet.(6) Sand Shark. This shark may be recog-nized by its combination of a delicate noseand unreduced second dorsal fin. The sandshark captures great numbers of small fish,which are its chief diet. There is no recordthat it attacks man. The Systematic Exhibit includes a rep-resentative series of fishes, from the lowlycartilage fishes, such as the sharks and rays,to the highest or most complexly constructedbony fishes. Noteworthy in this series arethe mounted groups of ganoids, includingthe sturgeons, spoonbills, bony gars, andbowfins, all of special scientific interest, sincethey are living fossils, or descendants ofthe now extinct fishes of earlier geologictimes. In the alcoves and wall cases on theright, the visitor will find many curiousforms, such as the giant catfishes, the hand- C73]. (Above) DEEP SEA ANGLERS. Note fishing rodwith luminous tip some rooster fish, the brilliant parrot wrasses,and butterfly fishes. On the right side of the entrance to theinner enclosure is the Biological considers the fish as a machine—itsstream-line form, its main principles of con-struction, its locomotor machinery, and themechanism of its jaws. The fish life of warm seas is representedin the inner enclosure, including the giantManta, or Devilfish, a small individual of thespotted Whale Shark, largest of fishes, andin the foreground a bit of sandy bottom withsmall species as it would appear about Bimini,Bahamas. The model of a Manta or Devilfish (Mantabirostris) was made from a specimen takenin 1915 near Captiva Islands, off the WestCoast of Florida, by Russell J. Coles. It meas- ures 17 feet across the out-stretched larger specimens up to zz feet wide areon record. The .Mant
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade191, booksubjectnaturalhistorymuseums
