TERRORS OF THE SEA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 19 April 1934, Page 10

TERRORS OF THE SEA

•AUSTRALIA HAS KCMERbrS

,■ SHARKS. With four attacks on human (beings —resulting in two deaths, anti two cases of severe injury—-Sydney ilias ex-; petienecd this summer .Its worst “shark season” on record (states t'he,“Argus”)., In 'Other summers, almost'; every, .year; •since surf bathiqg .became widely ipo.pu- j lai.y. there have been casiitiHtics, but deaths hayc been .few.' There, • a rcy however, sevij.ru l popple in' Sydney to day whose mutilations testify to the ferocity of sharks. One woman has lost both legs.' ' " Approximately 80 species of .sharks are known to 'live ’in Australian • waters. Of these, rather more than 30 arc. found off the coast of New South Wa-les: Practically the same number • lias been "recorded in iVictorian Waters, but in the relative coolness, of Buss 'Strait the sharks are less enterpripjilg,. and, moreover, 'bathers take fewer •risks than do those of Sydney. Superficially, most sharks appeitr muchliilikc,' • and-theif differences become apparent 'only when they are stpdierl in detail. This rarely practicable to name a shatk as it is. seen cruising noiselessly along :V head), occasionally breaking the surface' with its dorsal 15n, or shootim; along ip pursuit pf,-a,school /of .fish. ■ When cmJured, however,- “manmaters” •, -usually move to lie ,y bite sharks. This pp'eeics is one of »].«•• most, ferocious monsters of the seas, i! is Jnj.gc. speedy, rVriVl cjftrcmul'v voracious.

A white shark—or white pointer—flike'ii in Port .Jackson some years iigo was found lo contain several legs of mutton, half ,a Imm, the himUjuarlcr of '”n“pig. •the head nmi ‘forelegs, of a bulldog with a rope round the peck, a i|iiantity of horse Hash,, a. piece of

sacking, and a ship's 'scraper. A shark of the saihe kind, some 15ft long, taken near baths in Victorian waters, is recorded to have contained a large Newfoundland dog /with a collar on. This dog had disappeared on the previous day while swimming in comparatively, JWiibw water.'" ’ O’he tiger shark, another fairly common and dangerous creature, is also voracious. One caught at Bondi (Sydney) had devoured n full-grown spaniel with a collaron,' several sea birds, and a mass of fish. The stomach contained also a porpoise’s Skull and the spines ! of a porcupine fish. , i .. , 1