Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/1574
Scientific nameGaleorhinus galeus
CollectionHunterian
CategoryWet preparations
Object nameHead, Organs of Hearing, Mounted wet bone and tissue
DescriptionA section of a shark's head, showing the cranial and auditory cavities.
The cavities have been opened to show the labyrinth and semicircular canals.
This preparation comes from an animal sent to Hunter by the physician Dr John Hunter (1754-1809) from Brighthelmstone (Brighton).
Production date Estimated 1775 - Estimated 1793
Preparator
Owner/user
Collector/excavator
presented
Related objectsRCSHC/1311
Physical Location
LocationOn display in the Hunterian Museum, Room 4: The Long Gallery
Physical Information
Physical descriptionWet preparation of tissue and bone mounted in a circular glass jar with a glass lid.
Materialglass (material)
Galeus
Dimensions
whole height: 130 mm
whole diameter: 85 mm
whole weight: 794 g
whole diameter: 85 mm
whole weight: 794 g
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
Transcript1574: A section of the head of a Shark (Galeus communis), including the cranial and auditory cavities, which, in this highly organised fish, are entirely distinct, tile several complex parts of the labyrinth being wholly contained, in corresponding excavations, in the cartilaginous parietes of the cranium. These cavities are laid open so as to expose portions of the semicircular canals on one side, and the entire labyrinth on the other. The anterior perpendicular canal is the smallest, the posterior one the largest. Their diameter is much less than that of the cartilaginous canals in which they are lodged, the interspace being filled with a serous perilymph. The sacculus vestibuli contains a whitish opaque mucus (otoconia), of less density or consistency than that in the Skate, which effervesces slightly with acid, showing that it contains a small proportion of carbonate of lime, and forms a rudiment of the otolith of the bony fishes.
