Shark

"Shark" is also a: user

created by kiml1

(thing) by PJ Jules (5.9 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Thu Apr 27 2000 at 22:58:16

A shark is a predatory cartilaginous fish. Sharks are found in all types of seas, but typically prefer warm water. About 250 different species of sharks exist, ranging from the 2-ft pygamy shark to the 50-ft whale shark. Sharks have pointed noses and crescent-shaped mouths with several rows of triangular teeth. Sharks are warm-blooded animals, which means that their body temperature is higher than that of the water.

Actually, last week, in my college biology class, we watched a documentary all about Great White Sharks. If you study these sharks, you will find that they hunt in specific ways for their prey. They prefer a single target, which poses less of a threat. The shark cruises along the bottom, scanning the surface for the silhouettes of prey, such as sealions, dolphins, or seals. Their dark coloring on their dorsal side enables them to be unseen from the surface. The ventral white coloring prevents lower animals from seeing them above. Once a target is spotted, the shark picks up speed and crashes into the animal with a surprise attack. Normally, this huge blow either kills the target, or stuns them, allowing the shark to deliver another blow. The sharks backs off, waits for the animal to die, and then moves in for dinner. A shark uses its tail to assist it in sawing off pieces of food. They clamp on to the dead animal with their teeth, and then violently move their tail back and forth, sinking their teeth in farther, and ripping off a bite. On average, one shark makes about three kills a year, depending on the size of the targets.

Individual sharks compete for access to prey. Dominance is related to their size, with the larger sharks being more dominant, and also feeding first. They express dominance by body language. Characteristic postures are used to signal their intentions.

(person) by MobileOak (2.9 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) Fri Apr 27 2001 at 2:30:28

A term used by my friends and I to describe certain game players (typically paintball players). A shark will spare little to no expense to give himself an incredible advantage over other players.

For example, in paintball, sharks are those players who purchase guns with a base price of $500+, and then spend anywhere from $200-$2000 more on said gun. On a small, regulated field where most people play, they have an overwhelming advantage in shot velocity, accuracy, and rate of fire, especially against those people armed with rental guns. Since I am a poor college student, I cannot afford to spend the amount of money it would require to put up a decent challenge to these people, even though I have the necessary combat skills.
This definition is not limited to paintball, but can also be applied, for example, to those Quake players who spend as much money as possible outfiting their computers with the latest in hardware in order to give themselves an advantage in frame rate.

Sharks take the fun out of most games.

(thing) by pimephalis (6.5 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) Mon Apr 23 2001 at 18:03:18

There are over 380 species of sharks in the world, and of those a small percentage have attacked humans. While the risk of being attacked by a shark is extremely small, there have over the years been many documented attacks by a variety of species. Below is a list^* of those species who have, to a near certainty, attacked humans in the past:

Carcharodon carcharias -- Great white
Galeocerdo cuvier -- Tiger
Carcharhinus leucas -- Bull
Carcharias taurus -- Sand tiger
Carcharhinus spp. -- Requiem
Carcharhinus limbatus -- Blacktip
Sphyrna spp. -- Hammerhead
Prionace glauca -- Blue
Carcharhinus melanopterus -- Blacktip reef
Isurus oxyrinchus -- Shortfin mako
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos -- Grey reef
Carcharhinus brachyurus -- Bronze whaler
Negaprion brevirostris -- Lemon
Carcharhinus perezi -- Carribean reef
Carcharhinus brevipinna -- Spinner
Carcharhinus plumbeus -- Sandbar
Ginglymostoma cirratum -- Nurse
Carcharhinus longimanus -- Ocean whitetip
Orectolobus barbatus -- Wobegong
Carcharhinus obscurus -- Dusky
Triakis semifasciata -- Leopard
Carcharhinus falciformis -- Silky
Notorhynchus cepedianus -- Sevengill
Carcharhinus galapagensis -- Galapagos
Carcharhinus gangeticus -- Ganges
Galeorhinus galeus -- Tope
Isistius brasiliensis -- Cookiecutter
Isurus spp. -- Mako
Lamna nasus -- Porbeagle
Sphyrna lewini -- Scallopped hammerhead
Squalus acanthias -- Spiny dogfish
Triaenodon obesus -- Whitetip reef
Alopias spp. -- Thresher
Carcharhinus albimarginatus -- Silvertip
Carcharhinus altimus -- Bignose
Carcharias ferox -- Bigeye sand tiger
Cetorhinus maximus -- Basking
Heterodontus francisci -- Horn
Hexanchus griseus -- Sixgill
Rhincodon typus -- Whale
Somniosus microcephalus -- Greenland
Sphyrna zygaena -- Smooth hammerhead

Of these species, the only ones considered to be truly dangerous to humans are the Great white, Tiger, Bull and Whitetip.

^*These data were gathered from the International Shark Attack File, which compiles the information concerning confirmed attacks by sharks on human from 1580 to present. The species presented in the list are presented in order of the number of attacks during that period, and all species other than the Great white, Tiger and Bull have been implicated in fewer than thirty attacks in three hundred years. Furthermore, it must be kept in mind that several of the attacking species could not have possibly killed a human; for example, the whale shark has no teeth, and the dogfish is so small as to be able to do little more than wound an adult.

(thing) by SharQ (4.7 d) (print) ? (I like it!) 2 C!s Thu Aug 29 2002 at 0:20:20

The Shark metanode!

I figured that my E2 username gives me the moral responsibility to make sure that my namebrethren - the sharks - are properly covered here on E2. The sharks are gorgeous, yet somewhat savage creatures, definitely worth a lot of information.