SHARKS AS SCAVENGERS.

Shannon News, 7 March 1924, Page 4

SHARKS AS SCAVENGERS.

100 FEET MONSTERS.

Popular belief sometimes attributes cold-Mooded mialignlty and almost human cunning to sharks. According to Mr Alan McCulloch, of the Australian Museum, such ideas are almost certainly mistaken.

Sharks, he says, are essentially scavengers, and are always on the lookout for something to eat. But it is very unlikely that they ever deliberately stalk a victim. When they r.re poking about near the shore they are apt to grab at anything that looks edible. Wheni they seize a bather they are probably nearly as surprised as the unfartunate' wretch whom they attack. "We know very little of the breeding and other habits of sharks," said Mr. McCulloch. "As far as .we know, they are not migratory. There is probably no foundation for the idea that they swarm into coastal-waters in summer in the hope of snapping up bathers. Probably they are there in much the same numbers all the time, but mo, one bothers about them in the winter. TRIANGULAR TEETH.

"The really dangerous species are those which have strong triangular teeth, such as the tiger shark arid the whaler. Sharks with long, slender teeth may eat a lot of fish, but they are harmless to human beings. I notice that it has been stated that the shark which seized a bather in the Paramatta River was a grey nurse. That is very improbable.

,f Some sharks lay eggs, curiously shaped things with a skin cover, while others produce their young alive. All those that lay eggs belong to the harmless species. Sharks do not fight in defence of their young; it is a meal for themselves that they are after.

WHERE IS GREATER DANGER? "Off-hand I should say," added' Mr. McCulloch,'that more lives are lost in rivers and harbours by the attacks of sharks than en the beaches. I have asked the Police Department if they can supply the comparative figures. Such sharks as the tiger seem to be much given to poking into harbours and estuaries.

"I remember seeing a tiger shark opened at Bondi, which contained a retriever dog, swallowed whole, and a young porpoise. Sharks seem to have robust appetites. "The oceanic sharks are of course, much bigger than , those that haunt the coast. The big white shark, some, times seen off Our coast, grows, to 30ft in length. "But teeth are sometimes dredged up from the oceam bottom, which must have belonged to sharks from 80 to 100 feet long. If these sharks are extinct they have only recently become SGI "But if tliey still survive they probably live in tho deep sea, below the 100 fathom line. Man has not gone down so deep—not yet.".