THE SHARK'S TEETH 



follow them in the hope of feeding on them. They 

 too are sometimes caught in the fishermen's nets. 

 Often, thanks to their tremendous strength, they 

 manage to tear their way out of the nets, but a good 

 strong mesh will usually hold them. Sometimes the 

 fisherman makes use of them for show purposes, if 

 they are specially large; sometimes he sends them to 

 the market where there is a good sale for their flesh. 

 It is known as "white tunny", and tastes rather like 

 that of the skate. 



These common sharks belong to several genera. 

 There are little ones like the dog-fishes, spiny and 

 otherwise, and the topes, which vary in length between 

 three and six feet. Their behaviour, shape, and cus- 

 toms account for the nickname of dog-fish which is 

 often applied to them. Others, like the porbeagle and 

 the blue and grey sharks, are larger, sometimes reaching 

 sixteen to twenty feet in length and weighing many 

 hundreds of pounds. When we see them stretched 

 out on the beach or on the jetty of some fishing 

 harbour, although they are lifeless, we may still feel, 

 at the sight of their power, size, and especially the 

 appearance of the great pointed teeth with which their 

 jaws are armed, an impression like that which the 

 ship's passengers must have felt after a capture in the 

 open sea. We remember what we have heard about 

 their prodigious appetite, an appetite that is never 

 satisfied. And the impression will certainly be 

 strengthened when we gaze upon the means employed 

 by the creature to slake its ever-insatiable desire for 

 food. We understand why the word " shark " has 

 become the proverbial symbol for a greediness that 

 knows no bounds, for an unscrupulous mind that will 

 spare nobody and nothing in its search for satisfaction, 

 that has no law and obeys no scruples. 



In the sea the sharks are the counterpart of the 

 panthers and tigers in the jungles. And they are very 

 similar to those counterparts. Both have a voracious 

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