The Natural History Story Book (Yesterday's Classics) by Talbot Ethel

Author:Talbot, Ethel [Talbot, Ethel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nature
ISBN: 9781599152950
Publisher: Yesterday's Classics
Published: 2010-11-13T00:21:12.236000+00:00

Sharks

THE very sound of the word "Shark" seems to tell you something of the nature of the fish, doesn't it? The name sounds greedy and fierce and merciless. Well, perhaps it was invented just to suit its owner, for no one is quite certain where the word first came from. It was very likely decided upon by the sailors who brought the first specimen of a really large Shark to our country in the year 1569.

Everybody has read stories, or heard them, about Shark adventures in the warm seas of the tropics—tales in which bathers have been attacked in the water by the toothy monster, in which native diving-boys have fallen victims, or in which sailors who have fallen overboard have met their death from the cruel jaws of a hungry Shark. And after reading such tales one is inclined to shiver a bit—first with horror that there should be such dreadful adventures, and then with thankfulness that we haven't got any Sharks near home! Wait a bit, though; there is no good in being falsely relieved. We have got Sharks round our shores very often—true Sharks, as well as perfect shoals of Shark relations!

Probably you've seen them too, and I'm pretty certain that you've seen Shark egg-cases. They are large enough to hold one egg, or sometimes two. I found my first empty egg-case when I was six years old. My nurse told me that it was a "shepherd's purse"—"mermaid's purses," though, most children call them, I think. That is a more sensible name for the square, horny coverings, with the four strong threads growing from their corners, that are found so often on the beach cast up by the sea. Often as they are found, though, it is very seldom that a baby Shark is discovered inside. The egg has generally hatched out, and the fish has swum away, having been nurseried in the high seas amongst the floating seaweed, to which its egg-case was held fast by the help of those four clinging threads. There, indeed, was a baby that had been "rocked in the cradle of the deep."

Now for the Sharks that come about our shores. First of all, I said that there were shoals of Shark relations round our coasts, and so there are: these are the "dog-fish." A very old scholar, who in 1622 wrote an account of a Shark, described it as "like unto those which wee call dogge-fishes, but that he is farre greater." Another old writer, on the same track, declared that "the Shark hath not his name for nothing, for he will make a morsell of anything he can atack, master, and devour." Well, that second description will fit the dog-fish as well as the Shark; the difference between the creatures lies in the strength of their teeth and the powers of their appetite, really. They are both equally hungry and greedy.

If you've seen dog-fish, and I expect you have, you'll probably have met them in fishermen's nets. They follow

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