SHARKS AND THEIR HABITS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 1925, 14 February 1924, Page 3

SHARKS AND THEIR HABITS.

ATTACKS UPON BATHERS. A SCIENTIST'S COMMENT. Popular belief sometimes attributes cold-blooded malignity and almost human cunning to sharks. According to Mr Alan McCuiUoch, of the Australian Museum, such ideas are almost certainly mistaken. Sharks, he says, are essentially scavenger's, and arc always on the lookout for something' to cat. Hut it is very unlikely that they ever deliberately stalk a victim. When they are poking about near the shore they are apt to grab at amy thing that looks edible. When they seize a bather they are probably as much surprised as the unfortunate wretch whom they attaek. "We know veiy little of the breeding and other habits of sharks," said Mr McCulloch. "As far as we know, they are mot migratory. There is probably no fouudationi for the idea that they swarm into, coastal waters in the summer ini the (hope of snapping up bathers. Probably they are there in much the same numbers all the time, but no one bothers about them in the winter.

"The really .dangerous species are those which have strong triangular teeth, such as the tiger shark and 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 Parramattta was a grey nurse. That is very improbable. "Some sharks lay eggs, curiously shaped things with a skin cover, while others produce their young alive. All those that lay eggs belong to harmless species. Sharks do not light in defence of their young; it a meal for themselves that they are after. "Offhand, I should say," added Mr McCulloch, "that more lives are lost in rivers anldl harbours by the attacks of sharks than on the beaches. I have asked the Police Department if they ca,n 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) whojle, and a young porpoise. Sharks seem to have robust appetites. "The oceanic sharks are, of course, much bigger than those that haunt tho coast. The big white shark, sometimes seen off our coast, grow to over 30ft in length. "But teeth, are sometimes dredged up from the oceaim bottom which must have belonged to. sharks from 80 to 100 feet in. length. If these shark's are extinct they have only recently become so.

"But if they still survive they probably live in the deep sea, below the 100 fathom lino. Man has not gone down so' deep—not yet."