one of the world's most misunderstood creatures (thanks to film). not that i'm in a hurry to go pet one or swim with them, does the shark family deserve the reputation it has?

What would you like to know about Chrondithyes? I happily live surrounded by them - me on dry land or tide pools too small for them to enter, and they in the deep seas surrounding the island keeping the food chain healthy and eliminating those who would not improve their species. Fifteen-foot tiger sharks are the ones who are particularly lethal here. Maui has had the fatalities, but the people were"asking for it" in little kayaks in our open oceans?! I suspect sharks have their own Darwin Awards which they present with all teeth and jaws set at the deadliest.

One of the more famous fossil sharks is the Miocene Carcharodon megalodon, with serrated, triangular teeth (pictured on the background of this page) ranging up to 17.5 cm (7 inches) in length. An early reconstruction of Carcharodon from its teeth suggested that this shark reached 30 meters (100 feet) in length. However, this reconstruction was made only from the largest single teeth found, without taking into account the fact that shark teeth taper in size from the center of the mouth to the edges. A revised estimate of the size of Carcharodon puts its length at "only" 12 meters (40 feet) -- about twice the size of the largest great white sharks of today. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/basalfish/chondrofr.html

I saw a great show on sharks earlier today, on the animal channel. Apparently, it's a weekly series.

yeah, they do jaws week a lot! that's where i learned that the bitten off arms and other appendages were just samples--the sharks were tasting to see if the "meal" was edible. apparantly, we taste bad! we have great whites in the pacific and they have been known to dive deep for food (just on the news the other day)....

the following site contains links to all sorts of info on sharks: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sharks/resources.html

That is a great resourse - the PBS site you posted. I am trying to get mike to post here, too. He did make his maiden post in Geo nominating me as Queen of something. He would be a great addition!

oh yeah, i remember that!!

ok guys, i'm trying to figure out who the guy is that does shark research and is trying to undo all the damage jaws has done. this guy has long brownish hair and wears a shark tooth pendant around his neck on some leather or cording. i can see his face but don't remember his name. he has been featured on shark week (discovery) and other shows. (it's not the crocodile hunter or that other guy named niles)

I watched the shark show called "Shark Gordon" on Animal Planet. They showed tiger sharks off the coast of Waikiki. There are about 3 shark attacks a year on these beaches.

They flipped the tiger shark on it's belly and it quieted down, for some reason they incapacitate themselves when they're flipped on their belly.

I should have added that 3 a year is pretty good odds for swimmers. There is no need to eradicate these sharks.

yeah, i think it's funny about sharks and their bellies being rubbed!