A Rare Shark Surfaces in Hood Canal
A deep-sea fisherman pulls a species unknown to the Pacific from the waters of Puget Sound, stunning local museum curators.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The museum of the University of Washington has been enriched by the addition of a specimen of one of the rarest species of sharks known to science. Taken in deep water near the village of Brinnon, on Hood Canal, by F. A. Robinson, the specimen is only the second ever captured. It has been classified by Dr. Joseph Thompson of the United States Navy as Scyliorhinus profundorum, a species previously only known from the Gulf Stream. The shark is small, about twenty inches long, and is distinct for its tail, which curves downward rather than slanting upward.
“It proves to represent a species of the shark family hitherto unknown in Puget sound or even in the Pacific ocean.”
Local news often highlighted the 'frontier' nature of scientific discovery in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the century. This story underscores the historical role of local residents and fishermen in documenting regional biodiversity long before modern environmental surveys.
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