I've told a few people (those who don't read this blog) about my encounter with a shark on the Reef last week and I guess it is not surprising that most recoil with horror at the prospect of meeting one in the water. For myself, that tinge of fear added to the "coolness" of the experience and I'd certainly hang around longer next time. A quick Google trawl on shark attacks and the like hooked this book review which says that the little we do know about the biggest shark of them all, the great white, suggests it is not some dumb feeding machine, but rather "a skilled and stealthy predator that feeds with both ritual and purpose". Humans, apparently, do not have enough fat content to interest them. Not that I met a great white or anything, but it would seem that sharks are not very different from most other species of life on this planet i.e. don't mess with them and they won't mess with you.
Posted by Joe at August 18, 2003 12:46 PMI read somewhere that sharks are smarter than cats. Wish I could recall where - it was in an article about a shark programme on the BBC, I think. I think they're amazing.
And tasty too, although I have a harder and harder time eating certain animals these days. Octopus, for example. I love it, but I always experience a twinge of guilt knowing how clever they are.
Posted by: Lisa at August 18, 2003 09:44 PMI guess, Lisa, you would not make a good Kzin!
http://www.larryniven.org/
Posted by: DJ at August 19, 2003 06:42 AMSharks truly are sleek and amazing characters. I think they must be the smoothest movers I have seen anywhere - in water or on land.
Not sure I've ever eaten any shark - maybe had shark fin soup in a Chinese restaurant somewhere - and I only really like Octopus as sashimi, otherwise just a bit too rubbery for me.
Went to the Larry Niven site and couldn't make head or tail of it. :+( I am feeling a bit stupid this morning though, which could explain it.
Posted by: Joe at August 19, 2003 09:23 AMSorry, you probably need to have read some of his books to understand the reference. The Kzin are a warlike race which only feeds on intelligent life.
Posted by: DJ at August 19, 2003 09:29 AMGotcha!
Posted by: Joe at August 19, 2003 09:50 AMyeah, I meant octopus sashimi. I've never had it any other way.
Shark is pretty common in California (or was). Tastes like steak mostly. Not too disimilar to tuna when cooked. I think it's almost always thresher shark.
Posted by: Lisa at August 20, 2003 12:40 AMI can imagine shark tasting like tuna - another fish I like increasingly as sashimi only.
Posted by: Joe at August 20, 2003 06:16 AM