As seen above, the sign gives scale to various teeth, which are developed to suit that particular sharks diet. The largest one is a prehistoric fossil of a Megaladon, imagine hundreds of those in a single source, and you can imagine the gaping maw of death. Sharks are in large, territorial hunters, meaning a single shark will stake out an area and defend his eating grounds from all comers. They hunt through sensory perception such as smell, vibration, and electromagnetic. For smell they have special olfactory sensors that can sense up to 1 part per million in seawater, and locate a direction depending on how the scent hits the various ducts along the snout. Kind of like how we hear.
Vibration is sensed through a lateral line along the length of the shark. The shark can sense vibration from distressed or perceived distressed animals, between 25-50 Hz from several miles away. Electromagnetic sensing is done through the Ampullae of Lorenzini, and can number in the thousands in strategic locations along the nose. This allows the sharks to detect hidden preys electromagnetic fields, as well as use it as a kind of GPS since ocean current moves along a magnetic field.
Feared, worshiped, revered, and widely misunderstood, the shark is being wiped out through our ignorance and greed. Over 73 million sharks are killed each year for their parts, which are widely desired in Asian countries for the mystical and medicinal properties. Since most sharks have only 1-6 offspring every other year, they are being exterminated. The ancient Hawaiians believed that sharks were the spirits of the elders, gods of the sea. Most people believe they are demons, man killers that lurk under the ocean surface for surfers, swimmers, unattended little children, and blond starlets in the 70's who bare all for their 15 minutes of fame.
In reality they are the garbage men of the ocean, keeping our water supply sustainable. A shark is programmed to seek out injured, or dying prey and consume. They can eat and digest just about anything, having a liver that encompasses around 70% of their body cavity. Given the choice they will weed out the weak, injured, or unfit every time. This ensures that only the best propagate the species. A group of tiger sharks was filmed devouring a whale, in a gruesome display of ferocity, but what if they hadn't? That thousands of pounds of rot would just bloat and bob in the ocean. Joined by all the other corpses that accumulate in the ocean. How long would our water supply be viable then?
I am not suggesting that they are warm and fuzzy, since the only maternal instinct they have is not to consume their young, and even then it doesn't always work out. Hamsters eat their young, you don't see people running into pet stores everywhere to wipe the furry fuckers off the face of the earth. But sharks attack people!! Yeah, and so do deer, but everyone still loves Bambi right?
Well except Godzilla that is.....
Thanks for listening everyone, we now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.
