SYDNEY HARBOUR SHARKS

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10103, 31 July 1893, Page 2

SYDNEY HARBOUR SHARKS

{Sydney Mail.) A few years ago a sailirg ship was crossing the Bay of Panama. The wind had died away, and a passenger sat in a quarter-boat fishing. He caught a small fish, and soon the passengers, yearning for a little excitement, came crowding into the swinging boat to join in the sport. Tho captain was one of the fishers, and he said, ‘'Gentlemen, there are to.) many of us in this boat; tho falls won’t stand the strain,” and he stepped on to tho ship’s rail. At that instant the after fall parted, and seven passengers were precipitated into the glassy sea. There war. a wild shriek aa they fell, but that was all. Not one of them came to the surface to repeat his cry, Thera were a few bubbles on the disturbed surface, a few straw hatfC and a few blood spots, but tho sharks bad seized the unfortunate fishers, and not one of them was ever Been again! Nothing can exceed the swift, merciless voracity or tho cunning of Panama sharks. Unlike those which haunt our harbour, they are thin and hungry, and ever on the watch for prey. The town of Panama, at the head of the bay, is a dirty little sewerlesa town, and the sharks can secure but little food from it, so they are left to their own resources, and have to prey on all that comes within their reach. In Sydney harbour we have

A TOTALLY DIFFERENT STATE OF THINGS. We have a va-.sfc, well-sewered city, standing on tho edge of the deep waters, and the refuse of tha town provides food for tho scavengers of the sea. Our sharks are largo, some of them, and have all the capabilities of the Panama sharks, but they are not so hungry or so ill-conditioned. The consequence is surprising. On every racing day boats are capsized, but wo rarely hear of a man being eaten by a shark. Small boys bathe in all kinds of forbidden places, but tha monsters of tho sea rarely trouble them; and men bathe regularly in the open at Manly, Bondi, and all around the coast. Of course it is dangerous, but perhaps that adds to the enjoyment of the swim. We are a strange race, and only enjoy many of our pleasures because of the element of danger! The

SHARKS ARE A MOST PECULIAR FAMILY, an ancient, interesting, and instructive family, but the opportunities for studying their habits are very scarce in Sydney Harbour, They are not of that class of living things which can be studied to advantage in a parlour aquarium, or even in the tank of a zoological garden. They require freedom of movement, and a large area for the full development of their peculiarities. They belong to the most ancient fish family in the world, and the little Hoterodontus Phiiipi, the “ Port Jackson shark,” is an excellent illustration of that fact. It is rarely more than 3ft, or 4ft in length, and it is not at all e maneating fish. It has a strange set of teeth, a kind of teaselated pavement of crushing teeth, excellently adapted for the destruction of the shells of the molluscs on which it lives, but poorly adapted for biting at living food. These teeth, and the peculiar spines of this very strange member of the shark family, are to be found fossil in the oldest rooks where the traces of fish have ever been discovered. So far as pedigree is concerned, the Port Jackson ahark is

THE NOBLEST AND MOST ANCIENT LIVING THING IN AUSTRALIA !

We have also with us, in our beautiful harbour, a much larger and much more dangerous shark, known as the Blue Pointer (laurus glaucus), which reaches a length of about 12ft. It has most formidable, movable teeth, set in rows round its ugly jaws. These teeth are not intended to crush shell fish, or to masticate other food, but they are cruel, catting teeth. They are meant to bite and to tear, and the teeth slope inwards so that once they seize anything they are not likely to lot go. Another common shark in our harbour, and the largest of all, is the Grey Morse (Odontaspis taurus) which generally reaches about 15ft in length. In the seas where it has to depend on its teeth and speed for its food, it is a terrible monster, but in our waters it is generally fat and careless, fortunately for our bathers and boatemen. These sharks have some curious tricks which are well worth observing if ever the opportunity offers. For instance, they swallow their young! Many a wild dispute has raged round this statement, foi it has been vigorously denied by very clever people, but it ia true, nevertheless. SWALLOWING ITS YOUNG. We were lying at anchor one day, about seven miles from the City of Panama, when there came alongside of ua a long, thin, hungry-looking shark. She had about two dozen sharklets swimming about her head, looking like little pilot fish. The mother’s eyes were sparkling and dangerous looking, and it was evident that any man who fell overboard would have a abort shrift from her. Whenever there was a splash in the water the sharklets disappeared like a flash, as though they had gone underneath their mother for protection, but the wise old sailors said she had swallowed them. There was a great deal of unkind scepticism on the subject, for, as a rule, tho less people know about a thing tha more apt they are to become dogmatic in their statements. We baited a large hook with a piece of pork, and flung it overboard, and in less time than it takes to tell it, the hungry mother had seized the hook. She just made a rush like a streak of lightning; there was a flash of her white belly as uho turned to seize the bait, and then the sea was churned into foam in her wild struggles to escape. But the hook was fastened to our rope with a strong chain, and iu a few minutes the keen and hungry man-eater was kicking on our deck. Sailors have no pity on sharks! Wo beat ber into otillness and death with handspikes and belaying pins, and then proceeded with the work of cutting her up. Some wanted tho liver to boil down for an oil which is said to be good for rheumatism. Others wanted the vertebra to make walking-sticks and “checker-men,” while others were hungering for the terrible jaws of the dead shark. When wo opened the body we found twenty-three little sharks kicking away in the dead mother’s stomach ! We lifted them out and put them into a large tub of salt-water, and there they swam round as briskly as if they were still free, aud still had their mother for a refuge ia time of danger. With euch a CLEVER DEFENCE IN TIMES OF TROUBLE it is no wonder that the shark family flourishes, especially when we remember what a wonderful digestive apparatus it has. We are accustomed to think that brain is tho essential thing for worldly success, but it is a fact that stomach is much more essential than brain for the enjoyment of success. Tha shark has a stomach that can digest almost anything. It can swallow part of a man, a horse’s head, a blanket, or a ship’s scraper, and dispose of them by its terrible digestive apparatus. I have harpooned a shark which was feeding on a dead whale, aud, when cut open, the shark contained over a barrolful of blubber in pieces ranging from two to seven pounds in weight. It simply bolts its food whole, and leaves the stomach to do the rest. No animal in the world has such powers as the shark. It has tho most wonderful vitality of any fish in the water, and there is no wonder that it has endured through all the ages, even unto this day, when it reigns supreme in the finny world of Port Jackson harbour.