Sharks

[trinacriabob]

I just read that this Australian girl was killed a mere 50 feet offshore and that the culprit(s) was/were (a) bull shark(s). This species is actually more aggressive and less discriminant than the great white. It is also more likely to keep coming back at you if you spar with it.

Remember the summer of the shark? That was 2001. Before the WTC disaster, the Florida Gulf Coast was hit with a rash of shark attacks. The panhandle was also hard hit this way. In fact, in 1999, I went swimming near Pensacola quite a ways from shore where my feet couldn't touch and it was approaching dusk. I will NEVER do that again.

I always think about this danger when I go into the water. As a result, I rarely swim in the ocean anymore.

Some key facts:

Pacific Coast - mostly great whites, but further out, more intelligent and thus more discriminating - really prefer blubbery stuff to bony humans

Gulf Coast - mostly bull sharks, said to have their young near the Mississippi delta - actually the most lethal for humans

Atlantic Coast - both bulls and great whites - the former was treated in the Matawan NJ calamity and the latter was the focal point of the "Jaws" series

Hawaiian Islands - tiger sharks, they often attack surfers there because of how they perceive their boards from underneath

Edited January 9, 2006 by trinacriabob

[NOS2006]

Not really. I, uhh, live in Michigan.. lmao

[Flybrian]

Its also stupidty by some people, too, like wakeboarding by yourself a half-mile out into the gulf at dusk. From underneath, you look like a f-in' sea turtle.

[Cory Wolfe]

When I first swim in the ocean... I'll tell you. For now... indifferent.

[Sixty8panther]

I'm not a water baby so no I';m not. Voted indiferent.

NOw if I was the couple in Open Water I'd be $h!ting my wetsuit however.

I've always been very fascinated with them however. Jaws was a cool movie. Watching that in the 80s as a kid made me not wat to ever go near the water.

[Satty]

I'm several hundred miles form the nearest ocean or body of water that may contain sharks. So unless there is some species that is going to swim through the pipes, pop out of my toilet and bite my ass while taking a dump, I'm not concerned.

Edited January 9, 2006 by Satty

[mjdecker]

I live on land nowhere near an ocean... Nuf said.

Did sharks like get together and go, "Let's start attacking people." A guy in the news, again, the other day. He got bit by like a shark. And the shark let him go.

He was telling the story, they brought him back to the beach. Which is just where he wants to f@#king be, anywhere near the ocean again. And the news reporter was like,

"What happened? Why did the shark attack you? Were you taunting it?"

"Yeah, I go in the sea sometimes just to f@#k around with the sharks. I have this thing called a Shark Rocket and I shoot it at them. And it really annoys them. And then I just wade there in the water and they come at me. But I'm really good at alluding them. I know this hip move, it's something porpouises do and I pretend that I have a bottleneck and I stab them in the gills. And it really is effective."

[Nick]

I live only about 10 miles from the coast, so obviously the beach is pretty local...(hell, the street I live on pretty much takes me straight to PCH). I am in no way afraid of sharks...we don't usually get sharks up close and personal like that...Seals? sure...Dolphins? They can be a pretty common occurrence...Even whales come up to say hi every once in a while...Sharks tend to be very rare out here though...A couple years ago there was that surfer girl who lost her arm...or her leg...or something to a great white I think it was, but ocurrences like that come few and far between. I think that happened more in the central coast too.

Edited January 9, 2006 by Nick

[pow]

Depends on the beach. I'm fine with all the highly trafficked, lifeguarded ones here, but yes, I'd be abso-F*C*I*G-lutely scared in the middle of the Atlantic.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Depends on the beach. I'm fine with all the highly trafficked, lifeguarded ones here, but yes, I'd be abso-F*C*I*G-lutely scared in the middle of the Atlantic.

thats why ships carry M60s on them

[ocnblu]

When I go to Assateague, I don't venture in too deep, up to my waist is deep enough.

[Jamie]

Bull sharks are one of the lesser known sharks, but are by far the most dangerous.

I live less than 30 miles from where the woman was attacked, and two days before the woman was attacked, I was on a small boat in the same area.

Another problem is that bull sharks can survive in fresh water and regularly travel up rivers from the ocean. We occasionally have attacks on swimmers and animals in the river in locations that are more than 60 miles upstream from the river mouth.

[razoredge]

We used to summer vacation on Pensicola Beach when I was a kid. We always swam out to sand bar but not beyond. People used to surf beyond that though. The surfers were actually the ones that kept an eye out, everyonce in awhile one would come down the beach warning about a shark in the area and point out where they were. The guys were great, they would follow them down and keep everyone warned ahead of them.

Now the jelly fish were what scared the heck out of me, ouch !

today, I havent been to the Ocean in over twenty years and the brookys in my stream outback only nibble.

[staceface]

well, i live totally inland in canada, so sharks aren't a growing concern around here. but seriously, if one ever appeared at my door, freakin right i'd be scared!

this thread made me think about the "land shark" skits on SNL years and years ago. some of the funniest stuff i've ever seen! LOL

[sciguy_0504]

I'm not a fan of the ocean.

[MyerShift]

It's something that crosses my mind everynow and then. So, sometimes.

[Sixty8panther]

James is right about the Bull Shark. Nasty Creatures.

menacing:

scary: