Sharks and Rays
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 205 specimens of sharks, rays and sawfish. These date from 1882 to 2007.
This collection includes around 100 specimens of sharks, 80 of rays and 25 of sawfish. The majority of specimens are preserved in spirit, but there are also several casts, mounts, jaws and egg cases. Most of the sawfish specimens are rostrums (sawfish ‘saws’). There are also shark teeth and some shark-tooth swords held within the World Cultures collections. Nearly all of the specimens in this collection are from around the coast of Scotland or from deep water to the west of Scotland in the north-east Atlantic, although there are some specimens from Welsh and Irish waters and off Australia and Morocco. Many of the specimens were collected around the Rockall Trough and Anton Dohrn Seamount during cruises by the research vessels RRS Challenger and Walther Herwig in the 1970s. Also associated with this collection are specimens of parasites such as skate leeches, and some photographs, drawings and manuscript notes on rays by Dr Dietrich L. Burkel.
About sharks and rays
Sharks, dogfish, sawfish, skates and rays are all included in the subclass Elasmobranchii. Members of this subclass have a cartilaginous skeleton and a streamlined body. - Broader term
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