Once more into the...

September 11, 2003 10:40 AM

Fantastic images of a Great White Shark breaching (leaving the surface of the water, like a whale or a dolphin would). Note - they apparently usually exhibit this behavior when they are killing/feeding, so those with delicate sensibilities shouldn't click.
posted by jonson (48 comments total)

sweeet... bruce must be rolling in his grave. thanks jonson
posted by condour75 at 10:46 AM on September 11, 2003

I was as crazy about sharks as I was dinosaurs as a kid, Now they give me the creeps something wicked. Those photos are amazing-- despite the fact that they're outwardly innocuous, they're a little tough to look at.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:46 AM on September 11, 2003

Well, at least now we know where the source picture for that remix of the shark attacking the helicopter came from.
posted by briank at 10:48 AM on September 11, 2003

Since I saw Jaws at age 7, I've had dreams like this - except they sprout wings in midair and fly RIGHT AT ME.

Seriously, I didn't go in a pool for like six months. Still won't be the farthest out from the beach.

Is there a name for the generation traumatized for life as young children by that friggin movie?
posted by gottabefunky at 10:58 AM on September 11, 2003

Nice find.

I hope I never see that again.
posted by hama7 at 11:02 AM on September 11, 2003

Yeah, this was first documented about 3 years ago. But now you too can own the best panic-inducing pictures money can buy!
posted by zekinskia at 11:06 AM on September 11, 2003

The Summer of the Shark...IS BACK!!!

Crazy images, thanks jonson.
posted by dhoyt at 11:09 AM on September 11, 2003

Disclaimer: shark is in fact dolphin.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2003

Jesus Christ. Well, I'll be sleeping with the light on for a while.
posted by Skot at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2003

I don't know, gottabefunky, but I'm in that generation too. It doesn't prevent me from swiming far out - but I have to admit, sharks are in the back of my mind during most of the time. I refuse to let that stop me, though.

Personal anecdote: the only time I've been terrified in the water was when I was snorkeling off a small island in Fiji. There was a coral barrier all around the island, so my friend and I swam out at high tide to the outside of the barrier. This section was completely deserted and we had the whole reef to ourselves and the views were spectacular. After some time my friend had to go back in for something. Because the tide had gone out, he was unable to swim back, so he borrowed my tevas to walk over the reef. There was no way to walk across w/out footwear as the coral would have made mincemeat of your feet, so the plan was that he was going to get his tevas and bring mine back. No problem. After a while I had to pee, so I swam out a few feet and did my thing. Immediately afterwards, in one terrifying rush, I remembered a friend telling me that sharks are attracted to the smell of urine because it reminds them of dying fish. I just about lost it with fear. I was all alone, trapped outside this barrier reef, convinced that a great white was coming any second. The half an hour that passed before my friend returned was absolute hell. I can still remember being absolutely frozen with fear and talking myself through it.

I found out afterwards that the urine thing is not true. I could have killed the friend who told me.
posted by widdershins at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2003

That's a fantastic story! If I wasn't so lazy, my user page would read "widdershins: her pee smells like dying fish".
posted by jonson at 11:26 AM on September 11, 2003

This is terrible. I'm supposed to go sea kayaking next week in the Bay - out by Alcatraz island - and for some reason everyone has been saying, "Watch out for the sharks!" The fear has slowly been building in my mind, and today I get this. Great. Wonderful.

Also, I believe the pee smelling like dead fish thing only happens when you eat asparagus.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 11:51 AM on September 11, 2003

Daaa dum.

Daaa dum.

Daa-dum Daa-dum.

Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-DUMDUMDUMDUMDUM!!!!
posted by Robot Johnny at 11:51 AM on September 11, 2003

jonson - write that and my mom will NEVER forgive you.
posted by widdershins at 11:57 AM on September 11, 2003

i firmly belong to the generation that was traumatised by jaws. it took me months as a child to even take a bath, and swimming in the open sea was just never going to happen.

as it happens, i own the original movie poster which hangs in my bedroom. noticing the "Parental Guidance - some sceens may be disturbing for small children", it's a small miracle that the film was ever allowed to be shown to minors given the almost total shock value and blanket fear factor bestowed onto most that watched it.

i'd say that it doesn't scare me now, but i'd be lying. dammit spielberg!
posted by triv at 11:59 AM on September 11, 2003

Awesome
posted by destro at 12:03 PM on September 11, 2003

I've been a shark freak since I saw (and was traumatized by) Jaws as a kid. There are some great National Geographic photos and footage of breaching sharks here.

Sometime before I die, I'd like to visit Cape Town, South Africa, and confront my fear by going down in a shark cage to see Great Whites up close. I'll be wearing a diaper, of course.
posted by Ty Webb at 12:04 PM on September 11, 2003

Does anyone else smell a class action lawsuit?
Water-Phobic Children of the 70's v. Spielberg
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 12:07 PM on September 11, 2003

When you get creeped out by sharks, just remember those cute baby sharks.
posted by gluechunk at 12:07 PM on September 11, 2003

The sharks jumping with their mouths open...please make them stop.

To follow up on the Water-Phobic Children of the 70's thing: I would like to know if there is one person who has seen Jaws who does not think about sharks nonstop when they are swimming. Even swimming in a lake or a creek. Just one person. I don't think said person exists.
posted by footballrabi at 1:01 PM on September 11, 2003

uh oh
posted by ginz at 1:11 PM on September 11, 2003

Oh, that would be me footballrabi. Only cute sharks in European waters. The North Sea temperature on the other hand...
posted by ginz at 1:14 PM on September 11, 2003

What's this? A giant asparagus?
I'll shut up now.
posted by ginz at 1:18 PM on September 11, 2003

My god. Some of you people are pussies.





Never go in the sea. Never, never, never, never ever go in the sea. Never.

Ever ever ever.
posted by Blue Stone at 1:28 PM on September 11, 2003

That enormous, pink, teeth encrusted, gaping hole reminds me of an old girlfriend.
posted by HTuttle at 1:46 PM on September 11, 2003

Dudes, just last weekend, I met a guy who was bitten by a great white and survived. He's Swedish, and he says all his friends thank him, because statistically he's totally taken the burden off them. He was surfing off the coast of Ghana, where there aren't even supposed to be sharks, though he heard something, looked to his left, and then next thing he knows there's a ginormous thing in his field of vision taking a bite out of him. The shark just bit him and left, apparently because the nesting sea turtles in the area were probably going to be tastier. He thinks the neoprene wetsuit he was wearing saved him because a.) it made him less nummy and delicious; b.) it kept all his blood from spreading out into the water. He said he'd never felt like prey before and it was a very strange feeling. His scars are freaky cool--they're not jagged at all--his flesh wasn't shreded, it was sliced--it's just these crisp thin lines on his arm, chest and back. The plastic surgeon in Uppsala who cleaned up the scars said that based on the diameter of the bite marks the shark was probably a good 15' long.
posted by jengod at 1:57 PM on September 11, 2003

I speak for many of my American brethren when I say "Ghana has a coastline?"
posted by jonson at 2:37 PM on September 11, 2003

Don't you watch Shark Week? If you want to see this horrifying display in action check out the amusingly titled "Air Jaws"

I live in San Diego and think I'll be staying out of the water
posted by monkeyboy_socal at 3:13 PM on September 11, 2003

I would like to know if there is one person who has seen Jaws who does not think about sharks nonstop when they are
swimming.

Me! I don't think about sharks non-stop when I'm swimming, I usually wait until I'm far enough away from shore that I can't see the bottom, and until the water is murky enough that I can't see my feet anymore, that way the heart-pounding panic makes the attempts to swim casually and non-splashily back to shore that much more challenging. To quote Calvin, sometimes I think my brain is trying to kill me. I know sharks don't live in lakes or swimming pools, except when I'm in said bodies of water.
posted by biscotti at 3:37 PM on September 11, 2003

biscotti:

Just to mess with your mind there are sharks that live in fresh water lakes like bull sharks. or the sharks in Lake Nicaragua. Also I believe that a few of these attacks occurred inland.
posted by rdr at 4:18 PM on September 11, 2003

Correction:

Bull sharks don't live in fresh water but they survive in it. The sharks in Lake Nicaragua do live in fresh water all their lives. Also, only one of the New Jersey attacks occureed inland.
posted by rdr at 4:22 PM on September 11, 2003

Great White Sharks have always fascinated me -- they are, to me, The Ultimate Predators (don't give me any crap about "man" being the ultimate predator - you all know WTF I mean).

And what Blue Stone said -- never, never, never swim in a non-man-made body of water. Ever. Ya see, I've got sort of an agreement with the ocean-dwelling creatures: I won't invade their turf, and they won't grow legs and invade mine.
posted by davidmsc at 4:43 PM on September 11, 2003

"Air Jaws" was a fantastic documentary... pretty much the moving-picture version of the link at the top of this thread (it was filmed at the same location).

You might not want to watch it if you think seals are cute though.
posted by clevershark at 4:55 PM on September 11, 2003

Hmm. Flying sharks? Eh...no big deal. Now, flying spiders -- that would scare me.
posted by drinkcoffee at 5:23 PM on September 11, 2003

There have been quite a few sightings of great whites where I live (Australia) in recent years. The worst one happened around 6am one morning about 2.5 years ago. A guy was out in the surf when a huge great white must've mistook him for a seal and attacked. Took his leg right off. They managed to get him up on the beach and a priest actually happened to be there having his morning walk in time to give the poor guy the last rites just before he died. All of this in front of people enjoying their morning breakfast at cafes on the beach, the most popular beach in the city. The man who died was a customer of my brother in law. Having said all this, it doesn't stop anyone from going back to the beach, except now we have a shark patrol that sights them all the time. Hope it's in time to warn us.
posted by Jubey at 5:53 PM on September 11, 2003

sharks that live in fresh water lakes like bull sharks. or the sharks in Lake Nicaragua

The fine book Extinct teaches us that, in addition to the species you mentioned, young megalodons can survive in rivers, where they subsist on their natural prey-items: Boy Scouts. It also teaches us that young megalodons, when beached, can whimper for their mommies.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:14 PM on September 11, 2003

I was raised in the 70s, have NEVER seen Jaws, yet still when I visit a friend's place on Long Island sound I do NOT swim without thinking of sharks.
*shudder*

Of course, I can oog myself out in Lake Monona, what with the cats and the muskies (oh, and the weeds). Yet somehow, scuba diving never bothers me. Maybe part of our collective shark freak-out is the visibility factor? They really are big toothed monsters that jump from where you cannot see...

(That, and the lasers of course.)
posted by mimi at 6:18 PM on September 11, 2003

Sharks. Yeah, right........

I worry about the humans.

I would buy one of those cool images of breaching Great White sharks, but $50 is a bit steep.
posted by troutfishing at 7:05 PM on September 11, 2003

Now, flying spiders -- that would scare me.

Here you go, drinkcoffee.

"I set this experiment up and went off for a cup of tea and by the time I came back, there were juvenile katipos ballooning all over the lab!"
posted by BT at 7:11 PM on September 11, 2003

Scary but awesome pics jonson! And Ty Webb that video footage is terrifying.

I've just decided that water is usually dangerous!!
posted by madamjujujive at 8:37 PM on September 11, 2003

candygram!
posted by whatnot at 8:40 PM on September 11, 2003

*meep!*
posted by Cyrano at 9:23 PM on September 11, 2003

As always, Seanbaby has something amusing to say about Sharks :)
posted by soulhuntre at 10:04 PM on September 11, 2003

san francisco bay is full of great whites.
posted by centrs at 10:08 PM on September 11, 2003

I will not look like prey.
I will not look like prey.
I will not look like prey....
posted by namespan at 11:49 PM on September 11, 2003

I used to swim at the beach off where this is taken all the time when I was younger. Nice warm water and lots of seals for the sharks to snack on so they hardly attack humans.

Still everyone used to get out quite quick when the helicopter flew overhead sirens blazing...
posted by PenDevil at 1:14 AM on September 12, 2003

You are more likely to be injured by the toilet in your home than by a shark in the ocean.
posted by piskycritter at 6:08 AM on September 12, 2003

What if you live by the coast, swim in the ocean alot, and eschew home improvement? And Starbucks restrooms?

When toilet seats attack...
posted by namespan at 4:38 PM on September 12, 2003