I'm looking at "Sharks circle women on a floatie at Florida beach" (NY Post).
So... are they lolling, lazy dopes or savvy beachgoers?
The sharks are just hammerheads.
According to the International Shark Attack File, humans have been subjects of 17 documented, unprovoked attacks by hammerhead sharks within the genus Sphyrna since 1580 AD. No human fatalities have been recorded...
The young swim mostly in shallow waters along shores all over the world to avoid predators.... Fishermen who harvest the animals typically cut off the fins and toss the remainder of the fish, which is often still alive, back into the sea. This practice, known as finning, is lethal to the shark.
We're dangerous to them.
In native Hawaiian culture, sharks are considered to be gods of the sea, protectors of humans, and cleaners of excessive ocean life. Some of these sharks are believed to be family members who died and have been reincarnated into shark form, but others are considered man-eaters, also known as niuhi. These sharks include great white sharks, tiger sharks, and bull sharks. The hammerhead shark, also known as mano kihikihi, is not considered a man-eater or niuhi; it is considered to be one of the most respected sharks of the ocean, an aumakua.
Many Hawaiian families believe that they have an aumakua watching over them and protecting them from the niuhi. The hammerhead shark is thought to be the birth animal of some children. Hawaiian children who are born with the hammerhead shark as an animal sign are believed to be warriors and are meant to sail the oceans. Hammerhead sharks rarely pass through the waters of Maui, but many Maui natives believe that their swimming by is a sign that the gods are watching over the families, and the oceans are clean and balanced.
Now, I think the problem with the floatie ladies is that they did not show proper respect to the mano kihikihi. Even if you do not believe in reincarnation — or believe in reincarnation but don't think of hammerhead sharks as kindly former humans — you can feel awed by the beauty of the Hawaiians' conception of the ocean that surrounds them.
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4 comments:
Joe writes:
"The sharks are just hammerheads."
Maybe the swimmers are just hammered.
Heartless Aztec (formerly Surfed) writes:
Hammerheads, spinners,nurses and sand sharks pose little threat to us here I Florida. As a surfer I've seen them everyday of the 60 years I've been surfing. The black tip/spinner sharks are responsible for most of the bites in the Sunshine State. They mistake your foot for a tasty mullet treat. Usually that means 6 - 10 stitches and a great story to tell. Portuguese Man of Wars are way more dangerous on a day to day basis. The sharks that are the killers in Florida are the Bull sharks but rarely are they encountered. Just last month I caught a wave and surfed over a covey of Sand sharks at the North Jetties down along the inside sand bar. Disconcerting but no worries...
Our nick name for sharks is "The Landlord". It thier habitat we enjoy.
"Portuguese Man of Wars"
I think it would be amusing to call them Portuguese Men of War.
Gordon writes:
"My Dad was on one of the ships that picked up survivors of the USS Indianapolis. He had a Rifle Marksmanship rating and was given one of the rifles they had aboard ship (USS Ralph Talbot DD 390) and was tasked with shooting sharks that were attacking those still in the water. He says there were all kinds of sharks feeding on both the living and the dead and that hammerhead sharks were in the mix."
That was, I have read, the worst shark attack in history.
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