Watching Jaws

October 16, 2006 12:15 PM

Great White Shark Live on the Monterey Bay Aquarium webcam. This is the second time [mefi thread] they've kept a carcharodon carcharias in captivity. They hope to raise awareness of ocean conservation and the complexity of Great Whites. They are far from simple killing machines as the media often makes them out to be. They are also endangered despite legislation to protect them. Amazing creatures though [youtube].
posted by cal71 (40 comments total)

Also, gotta love the music with the webcam. I'm waiting for them to drop Enya in for a feeding.
posted by cal71 at 12:18 PM on October 16, 2006

If that's the kind of music that sharks like to listen to, they just dropped a lot of rungs on the coolness ladder.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 12:56 PM on October 16, 2006

Okay, that was nice: that damn shark just swam inches from the camera.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 12:57 PM on October 16, 2006

I wonder how long they'll be able to hang onto this one.

Oh, and the big-ass Sunfish in the exhibit is sweet, too.
posted by Monstrous Moonshine at 1:04 PM on October 16, 2006

Damn... I missed it!! I just keep getting crappy tuna...
posted by BobFrapples at 1:05 PM on October 16, 2006

This is so cool omgomgomg I love sharks sooo much omg
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:05 PM on October 16, 2006

I'm also in the Obsessed with Sharks camp and I never got to see the other one on webcam so I am very happy.
posted by Brainy at 1:11 PM on October 16, 2006

Sharks are beautiful
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:16 PM on October 16, 2006

Also...wow, that Natural History Magazine link has some great info I never knew in all my pouring over shark books. Twenty different social behaviors? Splash fights with their tail? That's amazing!

Why wasn't this stuff on Shark Week? Or did I miss it?
posted by Brainy at 1:21 PM on October 16, 2006

This is so much fun to watch, like the first time I saw that Aquairum screensaver in Windows 95. Only, you know, real.
posted by Saellys at 1:21 PM on October 16, 2006

I found this book tossed in a pile at the local recycling center last year. It's so tewtally great, it's about this guy trying to find effective shark repellant and he talks about shark attacks and different kinds of sharks and oh man oh man oh man!
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:24 PM on October 16, 2006

There's also a second view, but it's not nearly as pretty.
posted by Saellys at 1:25 PM on October 16, 2006

The Natural History Magazine research is new, it seems, which is why there hasn't been much talk of the social lives of sharks. There will be though.
posted by cal71 at 1:27 PM on October 16, 2006

Oooh, this is great, thanks.
posted by salvia at 1:28 PM on October 16, 2006

Stupid tuna.
posted by mr_roboto at 1:29 PM on October 16, 2006

Thanks...I watched the cam for a while, it was quite relaxing.
posted by unwordy at 1:33 PM on October 16, 2006

Sharks are cool, except when they're biting you; then not so much.
posted by Mister_A at 1:39 PM on October 16, 2006

Nifty. Although you'd think sharks would be into heavy metal.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:03 PM on October 16, 2006

We live down the street from the MB Aquarium.

Last year they placed a rescued great white in their ginormous Outer Bay tank. They eventually had to release it when it stopped playing nice with the other captives and an injury on its snout kept getting noticably nastier. While the Aquarium had it there, ticket sales went nuts (it costs about $20 to get in).

This year, as soon as gate receipts were cooling off because of the end of the summer tourist season, lo & behold, another great white is put on exhibit and the ticket sales surge (no back story about "rescue" this time- they presumably just hired some fellows with nets to catch one).

The MB Aquarium would like to be thought of as a serious research/educational institution, but it is first & foremost a tremendously successful tourist attraction. We locals call it the Fish Zoo.
posted by squalor at 2:17 PM on October 16, 2006

That's as may be, squalor, but even with that in mind, my gut-reaction was to think about plane tickets from Seattle. I've been kicking myself for not going down there ever since they let the last one go. I'm sure it has something to do with seeing Jaws at the age of 9, but I'm obsessed with sharks and especially the Great White.
posted by FYKshun at 2:38 PM on October 16, 2006

Didn't you people learn anything from Jaws 3D? Shark + Glass = Smash!
posted by brownpau at 2:39 PM on October 16, 2006

OK. Here is my second and final shark jumping comment of the day.
posted by bobobox at 2:47 PM on October 16, 2006

I say the more people who see it and are awed by it the better. Institutions like the Fish Zoo should make more money and perhaps it will go some way toward promoting awe and wonder at nature. I know I'm wishing I could afford a ticket out there from New York. You are right, squalor, that this one was not a resuce. They caught it with a hook and line, they say, which is safer for the the shark. The whole aspect of getting the shark does seem a bit dodgy to me.
posted by cal71 at 2:49 PM on October 16, 2006

I'm sorry, I just can't get behind the survival of something that utterly primitive. Anything that has a nerve stem to solely distinguish between "objects to eat" and "objects to fuck" can just go to hell. My monkey brain just goes all sorts of "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THAT THING" as soon as I see it.

To me, sharks just barely edge out crocodiles as the scariest animal on the planet, and that's because I can run faster than I can swim.
posted by quite unimportant at 3:18 PM on October 16, 2006

I spent 20 minutes staring at the screen, seeing things with fins moving around in the background, wondering, "Is that it? Is that one?"

Then it slid past the screen, and could not be mistaken. Totally nerve-wracking.

That being said, the giant sea turtle that occasionally swims over the camera, nearly covering it with huge fins, and once in a while peers down to give us a quizzical look, is simply cracking my shit up.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:27 PM on October 16, 2006

I'm sorry, I just can't get behind the survival of something that utterly primitive. Anything that has a nerve stem to solely distinguish between "objects to eat" and "objects to fuck" can just go to hell.

Yes, by all means, let us destroy the things that we don't understand! There can't possibly be any untoward consequences to that approach, can there?
posted by scody at 3:29 PM on October 16, 2006

Wow! Great White Sharks! They scare me.
posted by taosbat at 4:12 PM on October 16, 2006

I spent 20 minutes staring at the screen, seeing things with fins moving around in the background, wondering, "Is that it? Is that one?"

Then it slid past the screen, and could not be mistaken. Totally nerve-wracking.

EXACTLY what just happened to me...tuna tuna tuna sunfish (yet more proof that if there is a god, s/he gets righteously stoned) tuna turtle tuna tuna...SHARK! *jibblies*... wow is he beautiful, I love sharks, as long as they aren't swimming where I am.

This is so cool...I want to make it a screensaver.
posted by biscotti at 4:22 PM on October 16, 2006

Is it terrible that I wish I could tap on the glass... ???

I've been staring for over twenty minutes and haven't seen sharkie yet.
posted by Corky at 4:49 PM on October 16, 2006

At least the Aquarium will release the shark when it's getting injured or when it's nursed back to health.

No such luck for Shamu, though. Sea World San Diego has one whale, for example, that has been performing for 30+ years.
posted by frogan at 4:51 PM on October 16, 2006

Yes, by all means, let us destroy the things that we don't understand! There can't possibly be any untoward consequences to that approach, can there?

Hi. It's called hyperbole. Let me try this again.

*ahem*

Sharks scare the crap out of me and I don't like them.

Better, right?
posted by quite unimportant at 4:52 PM on October 16, 2006

Hi, I'm davidmsc, and I've been in love with Great White Sharks since 1975. DAMN, but they are near-perfect creatures. And I disagree with the original post: they ARE mindless killing machines. Doesn't make 'em any less lovable (in that fascinating, watch them from a very safe & dry distance kind of way). Other sharks are cool: blue sharks are so slenderfully beautiful, makos are brilliantly devilish and crazy, and such, but NOTHING beats the Great White for sheer presence and primal fear.

Great FPP -- thanks.
posted by davidmsc at 5:31 PM on October 16, 2006

I went down there a few weeks ago to see the shark. Just so you know what to expect, the shark is only 5'5". So, don't expect Jaws, but still absolutely worth seeing.

Also, the jellyfish exhibits are equally incredible.
posted by blackvectrex at 5:49 PM on October 16, 2006

This is...awesome. Cool. Great. Spectacular. I have been in love with Great Whites for as long as I can remember and fascinated (and saddened) by attempts to keep them in captivity. While I wish we wouldn't cage animals up, the opportunity to see one close up is so very compelling.

And oooooh! Sunfish!
posted by LeeJay at 6:36 PM on October 16, 2006

Didn't you people learn anything from Jaws 3D? Shark + Glass = Smash!

Haha, brownpau, that is possibly my favorite special effects sequence from any movie ever. It is so unbelievably, unimaginably, undeniably FAKE it blows my mind.
posted by LeeJay at 6:40 PM on October 16, 2006

If you all liked the shark footage, you'll totally dig this YouTube vid Octopus Eats a Shark. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it.
posted by brendan66 at 7:50 PM on October 16, 2006

That sunfish (or mola) was cool, I saw one up close that would have gone 150 pounds while out fishing a few years ago and it was just...jurasic looking. When they are small they can really scoot.
posted by Iron Rat at 9:08 PM on October 16, 2006

Didn't you people learn anything from Jaws 3D? Shark + Glass = Smash!

Haha, brownpau, that is possibly my favorite special effects sequence from any movie ever. It is so unbelievably, unimaginably, undeniably FAKE it blows my mind.

What is so sad is that the company that got the special effects got it due to kickbacking or something. There was another company that did that glassbreaking shot by taking a metal filled shark model and dropping it from 30 feet into a sheet of glass over a camera. That shot wasn't used. I think the people who did the practical effect cried when they saw the movie.
posted by Brainy at 10:46 PM on October 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

How very srange. Trying to close the browser window with the shark cam crashed Firefox.
posted by Goofyy at 4:13 AM on October 17, 2006

A/S/L?
Want to cam?
*duh-nu....duh-nu*
R U A SHRK?
N0 WAY
*duh-nu...dum dum dum dum*
CAM?
*dum dum dum dum da dum dum dum*
Ok! AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
posted by Smedleyman at 11:21 PM on October 17, 2006