Shark!Shark!Shark!

[cakerookie]

Are you still going to the beach this summer? Sorry not my intent to scare anyone.Use to be back in my other days I tried to bring light of the plight of the White Shark and how the movie Jaws has placed an enigma on the shark it does not deserve. Its a majestic animal but a feared predator has well.

Rgds Cakerookie...aka Rook

BTW just trying to lighten the mood here a bit its getting a bit stuffy ain't it Ch?

[Blade55440]

Did you ever catch the news stories about that shark "migration" that was following the coast of florida a few years ago.

The video footage was unreal, was just this black bar of sharks right off the coast.

[chrose]

I saw that, very scary. When I was 13 or so we had a beach house at the Chesapeake Bay. My cousin and I were in a rowboat about 50 yards offshore when all of a sudden the water started to churn and turn shades of white and blue. The boat started to rock and I could hear and feel the boat getting bumped. I looked down in time to see a shark that was turning so I could see its face. Scared the tar outta me! My cousin too! He started rowing back so fast the rowboat created a wake! We got back to shore safely. AS it turned out it was a school of sand sharks. None bigger than about 3' or so but there were enough of them and they were scary enough that we didn't go back in for quite awhile. When we did go back in we were good for about 90 minutes when we were hit again, this time by a school of Skate. That was the last time I ever swam in the Chesapeake Bay!

[cakerookie]

Yeah the movie did horrify a lot of people and for its time was great. But I have several issues with it still.The mechanical shark used in Jaws was 20 feet long large by White Shark standards considering Whites in Australia rarely ever exceed 15 feet. White Shark attacks occur more frequently off the coast of South Africa and San Francisco than anyother place in the world, though Australia does have its fair share.
Whites are rogue sharks which mean they travel alone quite frequently except during mating periods. Another interesting fact is that most people think because they call it a White Shark that its white! Wrong. White in Latin means wide and when you have one of these things coming at you it probaly looks as wide as a Mack Truck.
The ancient ancestor to the White Shark C Megladon reached lengths of 40 to 50 feet and fossilized teeth from this animal have been found has long as 8 to 12 inches.

[diane]

8 - 12 inches. Well that is a trifle daunting. I am more moved to terror by 2 -3 inches. My daughter 'flew' into a large dinghy, when she was a little younger. She had shark grazes all up her legs, and her rt arm. Their skin is really just little teeth. Very abrasive. She was hauled so fast from the water she was standing up in the boat. The shark had the good manners to show his/her face, and what a face it was. Smooth, beautiful, and in the circumstances, utterly terrifying.

[cakerookie]

Yeah those teeth you are referring to on the skin of a shark are called "placoid" scales. They are small briar like protrusions that extend out and toward the tail of the shark. Thats the reason they always say to strike a shark from the snout toward the tail, tail to snout and you have a bloody fist and bare knuckles. You have to remember that a sharks mouth is underslung so if you decide to give one an uppercut you may drive your arm into the mouth of the shark.

Rgds Cakerookie...aka Rook

[AprilB]

In So Australia you've got the inlet where there is a huge tuna population. Particularly around Ceduna.

Sharks mistake surfers for seals or surfboard shaped 'food' when looking up through the deep blue sea.

Australia beaches are probably among the most beautiful on the planet but the dangers are pretty abundant. Besides sharks you have blue ringed octopus, stone fish and microscopic invisible box jellyfish that will toast your butt in a few heartbeats. (Then on land you have 10 of the most poisonous snakes on the planet, (which are EVERYWHERE) spiders, stinging/swarming insects...bull ants...((about as long as your thumb joint and stings/pinches like a fire ant)) and...?)

Somehow the allure of surfing or swiming in the ocean doesn't quite outweigh the risk of getting eaten or stung to death.

On a foodie point the Aborigines eat widgity grubs. Raw. A thumb sized
... well... grub... Or honey ants. Those are supposed to be really good.

(No, it was bad enough getting used to beetroot on everything...)

Great Whites tend to prefer warmer water, but they've been found in a wide variety of places. I can't say if I was a shark the New England Coast would be a destination of choice. (I I I I I...ttttt ... ssss....kkkkkk....oooooo....lllll.... dddddd!!!!)

Plus the aquatic sports on the East Coast don't really support Shark chum.

April

(PS...you'd actually have to go into an ocean to have a problem and I can't think of any ocean on the East Coast that I wouldn't worry more about all kinds of bio stuff before I would a shark...LOL)

[chrose]

Originally Posted by AprilB

Australia beaches are probably among the most beautiful on the planet but the dangers are pretty abundant. Besides sharks you have blue ringed octopus, stone fish and microscopic invisible box jellyfish that will toast your butt in a few heartbeats.

This is why I have learned to love pools! I sit on a beach,and bathe in a tub!

[Jim]

Sand.. yeech! I prefer a temperature-controlled, indoor swimming pool with drinks brought to me with those little paper umbrellas poking out of the top. Keep the beach!

[chrose]

Originally Posted by Jim

Sand.. yeech! I prefer a temperature-controlled, indoor swimming pool with drinks brought to me with those little paper umbrellas poking out of the top. Keep the beach!

Jim! I have just the thing for you! http://www.excitris.com/2005/09/27/seagaia-ocean-dome/

[cakerookie]

AprilB yeah they are a temperate water shark normally found in deep water. They will venture in shore for their favorite food which is seals.

Rgds Cakerookie...aka Rook

[diane]

I consider the notion of being eaten by a fish unbecoming. And they make such a mess.

[thebiggerbopper]

I have a daughter who lives in Va. Beach. We get down there maybe twice a year as it's 400 mile from the mountains were we live. I love the ocean but I'll only go in up to about my waist. There's just to many things in there thats bigger than I am. LOL I'll stick to the pools. hehe

[chrose]

Originally Posted by thebiggerbopper

I love the ocean but I'll only go in up to about my waist.

You know what floats around waist level?
As I said, I do enjoy chlorine!!!

[cakerookie]

I do not want to burst any bubbles here but white shark attacks have occurred in water as shallow as 18 inches deep. And the old saying that just because dolphins are around there are no sharks don't believe it you are creating a false sense of security for yourself.

Rgds Rook