Common name of Heptranchias perlo
 
Common name Sharpnose sevengill shark
Language English
Type Vernacular
Official trade name No
Rank 3 - (Other common name)
Country South Africa
Locality
Ref. Bass, A.J., P.C. Hemstra and L.J.V. Compagno, 1986
Life stage juveniles and adults
Sex females and males
Core primary lexeme
1st modifier morphology
2nd modifier morphology
Remarks 'shark', of obscure origins but appears to have been introduced to English in the late 1560s by members of Sir John Hawkins' expedition (a ballad of 1569 recorded 'There is no proper name for [the fish] that I know, but that certain men of Captain Hawkins' doth call it a shark'), but it is not known where they got it from. A resemblance to Austrian dialect 'schirk', i.e., sturgeon has been noted (p. 471 in Ref. 11979).
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