Shark Appreciation Thread

if someone is going lie in the caption, why use such a recognizable landmark?
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Well, I see it the other way around. If someone is going to lie in the caption, why bother with any subterfuge?

Shark fin soup is quite nice.. the texture is... different. Although I hate the way the sharks are finned and then thrown overboard: what inhuman treatment, and what a waste.
When I was a kid, the 'fish' in our 'fish n' chips' was shark, usually dogfish.

Originally Posted by Manton

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Sorry, but that is not the South African Coast. It is the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. Unless SA built a replica. Whites are known to cruise Drake's Bay and the Farallons, but I've never heard of one coming through the Gate.

Quint did state in his "Eleven hundred men went into the water" speech that the first shark they saw was a Tiger Shark. The Discovery Channel program didn't specifically reference Tigers, but that doesn't mean they weren't there, too.

Perhaps part of the reason that Quint referenced a Tiger Shark in the script relates to the fact that a Tiger Shark was caught earlier in the movie, and the Hooper character identified it as a Tiger and a "man-eater." Thus, maybe the screenwriter simply included the reference to a Tiger Shark in Quint's speech so the audience would be able to relate to it as a "dangerous" shark without any further explanation.

Jaws is one of my favorite movies. To this day, I can't understand how Robert Shaw didn't win an academy award for his portrayal of Quint. It's some of the best acting I've ever seen.

In the shark exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, there is a TV monitor that plays the Quint Indianapolis speech on an endless loop.

Originally Posted by JBZ

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Quint did state in his "Eleven hundred men went into the water" speech that the first shark they saw was a Tiger Shark. The Discovery Channel program didn't specifically reference Tigers, but that doesn't mean they weren't there, too.

Tigers are warm water sharks, unlike great whites, which are cold water sharks. There were probably plenty of tigers in the Indianapolis incident. Tigers are indiscriminate eaters. The contents of tiger sharks' stomachs has included a keg of nails, lumps of coal, car tires, a license plate . . .

Originally Posted by T4phage

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Shark fin soup is quite nice.. the texture is... different. Although I hate the way the sharks are finned and then thrown overboard: what inhuman treatment, and what a waste.
When I was a kid, the 'fish' in our 'fish n' chips' was shark, usually dogfish.

I've had shark fin soup and found it to be nothing special. Yes, the texture is interesting, but I don't mind if I never have it again.

I am a fan of the graceful whale-shark.

All that grace, in all that shark.

I've scuba dived with sharks and never felt threatened.

I do, however, have an irrational fear of dophins, particularly during an open water swim. If freaks me out when I can hear them but can't see them. I don't trust them, their plastic smiles and all.

Originally Posted by whodini

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One of the guys on shark week recommended that if a shark comes toward you to attempt to meet it half way. The theory was that if you tried to swim away that you became prey but if you tried going for it, it would become nervous as if being attacked and get away.

I'm a little skeptical of a couple of the "experts." During one break, one of the experts was (poorly) describing the evolution of shark repellant, particularly within the context of protecting shipwreck survivors, and concluded that the best way to avoid a shark attack was not to go in the water. Of course--why hadn't I thought of that? It's the perfect option for personnel on a torpedoed boat.

That said, maintaining eye contact with some terrestrial predators is supposedly effective in delaying or preventing attack, so . . .

Originally Posted by Renault78law

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I've scuba dived with sharks and never felt threatened. I do, however, have an irrational fear of dophins, particularly during an open water swim. If freaks me out when I can hear them but can't see them. I don't trust them, their plastic smiles and all.
Dolphins, like men, (and many other animals that are not to be trusted, like cats and monkeys) kill for sport.

<--has been bitten.

I now eat shark fin soup much more often.

Originally Posted by Tyto

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I'm a little skeptical of a couple of the "experts." During one break, one of the experts was (poorly) describing the evolution of shark repellant, particularly within the context of protecting shipwreck survivors, and concluded that the best way to avoid a shark attack was not to go in the water. Of course--why hadn't I thought of that? It's the perfect option for personnel on a torpedoed boat.

That said, maintaining eye contact with some terrestrial predators is supposedly effective in delaying or preventing attack, so . . .

I remember seeing a special about great whites (probably a Shark Week program) where it was theorized that you could get the white shark to back off if you aggressively swam toward it and presented yourself as something other than prey. Some experts were testing out this theory by briefly leaving the protection of the cage and swimming toward a white shark with a speargun. The sharks seemed to back off. I seem to remember that long time white shark layman expert and former attack victim Rodney Fox was either along for this expedition (while staying on the boat) or was told about it. I also seem to remember that his reaction was a combination of amusement and horror.

For those of you who are both Shark and Las Vegas aficionado's, Landry's Restaurants bought the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in downtown Vegas about 2 years ago. They own and operate a chain of restaurants called the Aquarium which are, as the name makes obvious, seafood restaurants built around aquariums, making them the largest operator of private aquariums in the US. The plan is to put one of these into the GNLV, but in the meantime, they have built a giant shark tank in the middle of the swimming pool. It's pretty cool to go swimming at the pool and look up and watch a shark swimming by. They also have a water slide that goes through the middle of the shark tank.

http://www.goldennugget.com/home/amenities/pool/

So if the sharks in the poker room are a bit too scary for you, you can always go out by the pool instead.

Shark Week is awesome.

My funniest encounter with a shark was when I was sailing off the Florida Keys, probably 6 years ago now. We were worried about the boat drifting at night, so we kept two people on watch at a time, in 2 hour shifts. About the fourth day in, my buddy and I had the 2-4am shift, and of course, fell asleep. Little did we know that on the other end, and older gentleman with us was fishing off the back and had caught a small (maybe 3 ft) shark. Proud of his catch, he comes back to show us before tossing it back. He finds us asleep in our chairs, and wakes me up by holding the shark right in front of my face and nudging me with it. I woke up real fast and didn't fall asleep on watch the rest of the trip. I have not lived that down.

On the same trip, there were a fair number of sharks in the water while we were scuba diving and snorkling, but they never came too close to us. The ones that did come close were barracudas, which are very fearsome looking creatures (and damn near impossible to bring in if you manage to hook them).

At some place onshore, I chatted with a fellow who regularly led diving groups, and he said that barracuda's love to be fed hot dogs, and that one should be careful not to point at them, as they may confuse the finger for a hot dog. He then imparted some excellent advice on me - never go skinny dipping where barracudas are near.

I was recently in Toronto speaking at a conference and was invited to dine at a very expensive Chinese restaurant in the city. We were served 8 or 9 courses of food and one of the dishes was a very strange gelatinous soup that had a peculiar fleshy taste. I didn't like the taste at all, but I was told that it was considered a delicacy and so I consumed the entirety of the dish so as not to offend my host. Afterward, I found out that it was shark fin soup. I had just watched a lengthy television special on shark fin soup (and how the fins were acquired) the night before.......