| Title: | Thresher shark |
| Original Title: | Renard marin, Porc marin, Ramart |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 14 (1765), pp. 104–105 |
| Author: | Unknown |
| Translator: | Audrey Dubois [Wheaton College] |
| Subject terms: |
Natural history
Ichthyology
|
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.567 |
| Citation (MLA): | "Thresher shark." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Audrey Dubois. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2018. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.567>. Trans. of "Renard marin, Porc marin, Ramart," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 14. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | "Thresher shark." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Audrey Dubois. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.567 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Renard marin, Porc marin, Ramart," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 14:104–105 (Paris, 1765). |
Thresher shark, vulpes marina . Ray. A cartilaginous ocean fish, belonging to the dogfish family [1]. M. Perrault dissected one that was eight and a half feet long and one foot two inches wide at the broadest part, that is to say, the belly. The tail was almost as long as the entire body, and was shaped like a scythe, slightly curved toward the stomach; there was a fin in the area where the curvature started. The back had two raised crests [2], a large one in the middle of its body, and a smaller one near the tail. There were three fins on each side. The first one, beside the head, was one foot three inches long, and five inches wide at the base. The second was located on the belly; it was shorter than the one on the head, with a dangling point characteristic of males. The last fin, located near the tail, was extremely small. The skin had no pointed scales; it was smooth. The crests and fins had a bluish brown color. The opening of the mouth was five inches wide. The teeth differed in form and toughness; from the right side of the upper jaw, to the place where quadruped animals would have canines, there was a row of pointed teeth, hard and solid, all fused in a single bone resembling a handsaw. The other teeth that were found on the other side of the upper jaw, as well as all those on the lower jaw, were moveable, triangular, slightly pointed, and made of a substance much softer than the other teeth, such that some of them appeared to be nothing more than a solidified membrane. The tongue, completely attached to the lower jaw, was composed of many bones firmly united to one another and covered in a fibrous flesh. The skin of the tongue featured small shiny points that made it very rough and coarse. Mémoire de l’académie royale des sciences , volume 3, part 1, by M. Perrault. [3] See Fish.
1. In modern taxonomy, the thresher shark belongs to the Alopiidae family, not the Squalidae family of dogfish sharks.
2. Perrault was likely referring to the first and second dorsal fins.