Sharks

[Chomper98]

If anyone has seen the movie Jaws, then you definetly know sharks are not to be messed with, but the sharks that act like Jaws in real life, and there has only been one known, are very, very rare. The vast majority of sharks, even Great Whites, don't often attack humans, and the reason many do attack is because our surfboards make us look like seals or turtles, and that, plus a hungry White Shark is not a good combo.

Infact, people have been known to swim with Great Whites without getting attacked, this video will show you.

Of course, if you do this, respect it, move slowly, don't splash around, otherwise it could think you are wounded prey, and then you're in trouble. Great Whites prey mostly on Seals, Sea lions, Dolphins, Fish, and if they're hungry enough, their own offspring.

Swimming with the more aggressive Tiger and Bull Sharks are not recommended, and they will eat anything, even after discovering your not prey, they may continue to attack. Tigers have been found with nuts and bolts, trash, a suit of armor, and pretty much everything in between.

Bull Sharks are the most dangerous shark, and not only because they attack humans the most, but because they have been found as far up the Mississippi as Illinois, and there was ONE Jaws like incident in 1916, five people attacked, one survived, and two occurred up river.

Of course, never piss off any shark, or you're in a universe of trouble. Grey Reef Sharks hunch their body upwards, which is a sign the shark feels nervous or threatened. It is also reccommended not to swim with them in the morning or the night, when many sharks usually feed.

Their are five sharks known to attack humans more then any other, the Great White, Tiger Shark, Bull Shark, Blue Shark, and Oceanic Whitetip(reef Whitetips are not as dangerous.) Anyone want to ask a question on these, or discuss them?

[Mr Wonk]

I love hammerhead sharks. Yes I like the great white and all but there something I really like about the hammerhead.  



Look he having the time of his life.

[jansenov]

My view of sharks is neutral. They are an important part of marine ecosystems and therefore must exist, but I can't say I would mourn a shark getting killed for food or because it came too close to populated areas. It's a cartilagenous fish, nothing more. That being said, there must be parts of the planet where they can live without human interference.

[Cancerian Tiger]

I think they're pretty neat, but as with all wildlife, I would keep my distance if I ever encountered them.  I have no interest in harassing a shark .

[Chomper98]

I think they're pretty neat, but as with all wildlife, I would keep my distance if I ever encountered them.  I have no interest in harassing a shark .

I agree with that.

[Malte279]

Some movies have contributed to establish the farspread image of sharks as "vicious killers". Now obviously one is well advised not to gho swimming beside some huge shark same as one is well advised not to go for a walk beside a huge grizzly bear. I appreciate the need to keep sharks far from bathing beaches frequented by many humans. But given the image of the picture of sharks as "killers" is it is sad how much Less awareness there is for the fact that many kinds of sharks are brought to the edge of extinction by humans (sharks don't generally receive the same sympathy as whales and dolphins do). The way in which many sharks are killed is extremely cruel. It is the fins for which the sharks are hunted, because said fins are considered a delicacy. Very often the living shark is hauled on board of the fishing boats with hooks and the fins are then chopped off and the remainder of the living and conscious shark is thrown overboard. Stripped of its fins the shark will be unable to swim and sink helplessly to the bottom to either be devoured by what creatures are lured there by the sharks blood. Or to be crushed by the water in case the depth exceeds the maximum diving depth of the maimed shark.

[Ghostfishe]

Despite living just a few miles from the shark attack capital of the United States, I love sharks... they're very neat animals, and like most fish, they're waaay smarter than people give them credit for. I hate the fact that people cut their fins off and leave them to starve just so they can make soup from them. People treat sea life in the worst ways.    The hammerhead is my favorite kind too... and have been since I was at least five. They just look s'dang cool.

[Chomper98]

Despite living just a few miles from the shark attack capital of the United States, I love sharks... they're very neat animals, and like most fish, they're waaay smarter than people give them credit for. I hate the fact that people cut their fins off and leave them to starve just so they can make soup from them. People treat sea life in the worst ways. The hammerhead is my favorite kind too... and have been since I was at least five. They just look s'dang cool.

You said it! I think that all sharks should be protected, unless they're in populated areas, then ofcourse, sadly, they might have to eliminate it, though everything must also be done to save the shark.

My favorite modern sharks are these:

Great White
Tiger Shark
Blue Shark
White-Tip(both Oceanic and Reef)
Black Tip
Grey Reef
Hammerhead
Lemon Shark

These Sharks are prehistoric

Cretoxyrhina
Hybodus
Stethacanthus
Orthacanthus
Squalicorax
Megalodon

[Pangaea]

I have always adored sharks. They were some of the first animals I ever got interested in; I remember having a favorite shark documentary that I watched all the time as a preschooler (and telling one of my teachers all about it). My favorite species back then were the tiger, horn, and angel sharks. Today, I am interested in a much wider variety of sharks: modern species like the wobbegong, goblin shark, frilled shark, cookiecutter shark, basking shark, whale shark, sawshark, hammerheads, bullhead or horn sharks, mako shark, tiger shark, zebra shark, sleeper sharks, bramble shark, catsharks, angel shark, epaulette shark, swell shark, thresher shark, megamouth, and the good ol' great white shark; shark relatives like the stingrays, manta rays, skates, guitarfishes, sawfishes, wedgefishes, shark rays, whiprays, eagle rays, butterfly rays, river rays, torpedo rays, and chimeras; and extinct varieties like Edestus (scissor-toothed shark), Helicoprion (whorl-toothed shark), iniopterygians, xenacanthids, stethacanthids, megalodon, and Hybodus (the sharks from the marine reptiles episode of Walking With Dinosaurs).

So, yeah, I have a lot of love and respect for sharks. If I saw one in the wild, I wouldn’t go up and pet it, but then, that’s not really recommended for any wild animal. Danger-wise, think of them any differently than I do of big cats, bears, crocodilians, or any other dangerous animals: stay away from places where they live and don't make yourself look like food or a threat to them, and you should be okay. If you venture into their domain, you accept the risk of being attacked.

Malte unwittingly read my mind and posted just about everything else I was going to say about sharks, namely the shark fin soup bit; truly one of the cruelest, most wasteful methods of exploiting an animal out there, in my opinion anyway. It also tragically highlights the difficulty in garnering conservational attention for a creature that is widely feared, hated, or unappreciated. Honestly, if it were dolphins getting their fins hacked off and their bodies tossed back into the ocean to die, nobody would stand for it. The sad fact is that sharks and their world are so alien to us, and it is so hard for most people to sympathize with them, tható25 years of Shark Week notwithstandingóthey aren't privy to the same level of respect, appreciation, and concern for their survival that other large and charismatic animals receive.

My view of sharks is neutral. They are an important part of marine ecosystems and therefore must exist, but I can't say I would mourn a shark getting killed for food or because it came too close to populated areas. It's a cartilagenous fish, nothing more. That being said, there must be parts of the planet where they can live without human interference.

But it's worth keeping in mind that it's a cartilaginous fish thatócompared to most other fishóreproduces fairly infrequently, doesn't produce a lot of offspring when it does, takes a long time to reach breeding age, and often needs a large home range in order to find enough to eat, which may by necessity extend into the coastal waters that human beings are increasingly overtaking. Sharks can't be harvested the same as other fish; their populations are far smaller, and take much longer to rebound. And I don't believe a shark should be killed just because it ventures close to a beach or some such; it's even been suggested that some attacks by smaller sharks occur because they are no longer scared off by bigger species like great whites that used to inhabit the area, but were wiped out by humans.

[jansenov]

^If we weren't so dependent on hunting sea food, there would be plenty for sharks to eat. I'm a strong advocate of closed aquaculture, not just because of sharks, but because it's the only way to produce large amounts of sea food sustainably. Hunting for food is incredibly wasteful. Sea food should be bred, just like food on land. We abandoned the hunter-gatherer mode of production on land 10,000 years ago. It's about time we do the same for the sea.


But of course, since such a transition in food production would be very expensive, coming at a time when mankind must make many other transitions, nothing will come out of it, at least for some time.

I said once that we should prepare ourselves for the fact that by the time mankind and world ecosystems return to a state of (relative) normalcy many, many species will be extinct.

[Ghostfishe]

There's also the fact that farming aquatic life can pose dangers to wild aquatic life. There are a lot of variables that need to be considered for aquatic species, eg. runoff from fish farms introducing parasites and other garbage into wild fish populations. Not only would there be a transition involved, existing practices still need to change, or it would just be a matter of trading one method of ruining the environment for another.

[Pangaea]

If we weren't so dependent on hunting sea food, there would be plenty for sharks to eat.

Valid though your point may be, what I was referring to regarding the distances sharks have to travel to find food is that, as a rule, big predators need large home ranges because their prey is usually always on the move, and even when it is abundant, their hunts will fail more often than not. A tiger, for instance, may have a home range of 20 to 450 square kilometers, depending on prey density. A shark may need an even wider range, because the plankton that feeds their prey (or the prey of their prey) is constantly being swept along by ocean currents. Any place where resources pool for more than a few days at a time is likely to be near a coast.

[Chomper98]

I agree, unfortunatley, farming sea creatures may not be such a good idea, because if we do, some predatory fish may sneak in and start eating them, and putting someone who goes in there at risk, and like on land, farmers would probably kill any predator they found near their farm.

[Pangaea]

^ As far as the problems with farming seafood go, I think that's a fairly minor one. Though sharks may very well be attracted to fish farms by the high concentration of fish, they probably wouldn't go so far as to rip open the surrounding nets and swimming inside. As long as the fish farmers stayed within the perimeter of the farm, they would probably be fairly safe. Even with the threat of predators like sharks, I'd imagine seafood farming would be considerably less dangerous than fishing (which some studies have found to have the highest fatality rates of any job, not because of sharks, but because of accidents).

That's not to say that fish farming doesn't cause problems for the environment, and I don't necessarily approve of it, but this is a topic about sharks, so I digress.

[Cancerian Tiger]

Another problem with farm-raised seafood is all the crap they're fed: antibiotics, steroids, etc. that we are in turn ingesting and developing health problems as a result.  Additionally, farm-raised seafood is much lower in nutrients essential to human health.  That said, the best thing to do is to use discretion when selecting seafood to ensure it is wild-caught and sustainable.  Alaskan sockeye salmon and albacore tuna from North America are good picks, along with Pacific sardines and trout.  It does take some research and adjusting to know what is environmentally friendly and sustainable to consume, but it's worth it .  Besides, sharks have really high levels of mercury.  That alone turns me off from wanting to try any .

[DarkHououmon]

Speaking of fishing, here's a grim documentary I heard of sometime ago. I have not watched it yet.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176727/

[Ghostfishe]

I haven't seen it, though I saw several commentaries online from biologists who had participated or just wanted to add their own thoughts. Wish I could find them again--it's nice to see the visuals but it's also great to hear what some of these people say when they don't have time limitations and editing to consider.

[Ptyra]

"I have seen the end and it is terrible"
This picture just needs to be in the Caption This section =P

I think sharks are pretty cool. Apparently there's a kind you can keep in a home saltwater aquarium, but they're pretty expensive and demanding.
One of my reasons for my liking for sharks is how friggin' old the species is. It's one of those little charms of nature that's just mindblowing.

As for eating sharks, I don't think it should be done at all. For the health not just the animal, but people as well.

[EggStealerGirl]

They're fascinating to look at, but very dangerous at the same time.

By the way, Lenny from Shark Tale is BUCKING awesome;

He's the kind of Great White Shark that I wish existed!