Toothy tubes of hunger.

September 4, 2010 11:36 PM

Toothy tubes of hunger. SharkweekFilter. Good snaps.
posted by five fresh fish (18 comments total)

These are awesome. Thanks, fff. Cape Cod? WTF? I am never swimming again.z
posted by koeselitz at 12:10 AM on September 5, 2010

Like most kids who grew up with the Discovery Channel, I was fascinated by great whites. Now, for some perhaps irrational reason, I kind of find myself loathing them. I know they are a vital part of the ecosystem, and their elegance, efficiency, and evolutionary advantages are admirable, and that for the most part they don't go after humans...but still. I suppose it comes from being a mostly successful adult who has more or less controlled (or is able to project the illusion of control) most of the variables of my environment and not being able to reconcile that with a giant, fast moving sack of teeth and muscles. Maybe it might be worthwhile to go on some kind of great white encounter tour and get in touch with that kind of primal fear that our ancestors had to cope with daily.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:20 AM on September 5, 2010

That's nothing my mom sent me this picture of a shark attacking a HELICOPTER!!!
posted by iamck at 12:47 AM on September 5, 2010 [5 favorites]

I dunno, I find myself feeling anger and despair that people are still fishing for sharks, not even for food, but just for fun. To kill a great white is no more honourable or respectable than to kill a lion, and considering that there are no reserves or zoos where large sharks can be preserved, even less defensible.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:20 AM on September 5, 2010 [12 favorites]

BBC video (preceded by annoying 15 second ad) of a shark coming right up onto the beach in New Jersey a few days ago.
posted by Marla Singer at 3:22 AM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Training ... critics say shark tours, in which blood and guts are thrown overboard to attract sharks, teach great whites that boats = dinner

I think the incresing number of forced interactions between humans and sharks is making the world a more dangerous place to be for both species.
posted by electricinca at 3:30 AM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oops. Make that a month ago. I forgot what month it is.
posted by Marla Singer at 3:33 AM on September 5, 2010

I think the incresing number of forced interactions between humans and sharks is making the world a more dangerous place to be for both species.

Mostly just for the sharks. We kill about 100 million of them per year, they kill about four of us.
posted by snofoam at 3:58 AM on September 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

Someone caught an 8 ft bull shark at the mouth of the Potomac River the other day, which had swam up from the Chesapeake.

Now, when my kids were younger we used to go to the beaches on the bay several times every summer. While jellyfish were always a problem, I would reassure my nervous daughter, "No, honey, there are NO SHARKS in the Bay." I was wrong. Oh so wrong.
posted by drlith at 4:36 AM on September 5, 2010

Forget shark week, when I was a boy I remember reading Jacques Cousteau's book "The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea" at my granparents' house. (I picked the book off their shelf every single time I went there, until they gave it to me. Oh, how I wish I had it to hand right now.) And I watched endless PBS broadcasts of the specials in which we heard him describe how his divers "retreet to zee savety of zee caje" when they'd provoked *another* feeding frenzy.

At the time I lived in Minnesota -- "Land of 10,00 Lakes And No Sharks" -- and I was still leery of the water; now I live in Rhode Island and I am just not interested in going to sea, thankyouverymuch.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:23 AM on September 5, 2010

Perfect caption for photo #1: Got your nose!
posted by bwg at 7:55 AM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

White pointers deserve better than the sordid and tawdry captions for those photos.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:09 PM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

That BBC clip....is that a thresher?
posted by cookie-k at 12:43 PM on September 5, 2010

KokuRyu: “White pointers deserve better than the sordid and tawdry captions for those photos.”

Yeah, I didn't want to start the thread off snarking, but I almost said this above: in a misguided attempt to be kind-hearted, they seem to have given the idiot who wrote those old "Foster's: Australian for Beer" commercials some much-needed work by letting him write the captions for these pictures.
posted by koeselitz at 1:37 PM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

is that a thresher?

Yes.
posted by Elmore at 3:58 PM on September 5, 2010

I live not far from Stockton Beach, one of the featured areas.
You can see the sharks there about 3 months of the year.

Factoid: Stockton Beach was a location for Mad Max.
posted by Duke999R at 4:47 PM on September 5, 2010

Sharks are awesome, too bad there'll be one left in like 20 yrs.
posted by Vindaloo at 5:17 PM on September 6, 2010

Thanks, Elmore.
posted by cookie-k at 3:06 PM on September 30, 2010