THE SHARK'S TEETH 



on its side so that it could see upwards, showing first 

 its large conical head, broad eyes, shining like a cat's, 

 and the vast slit of its half-open jaws, with a double 

 row of sparkling teeth, like sharp-pointed triangles. 

 Then came the body, and finally the tail, narrower, 

 elastic, swaying gently to right and left. That shark 

 looked the master fish it was. No one could see its 

 strength and suppleness, its assurance of physical 

 power, without perceiving in it a force greater than 

 that of other animals of the waters. When it was 

 just about to disappear it turned more over and so 

 better displayed its mouth and its great belly, of a 

 lighter hue than the rest of its body. Then it vanished 

 and was lost in the depths of the water beneath me. 

 Instinctively I jumped back as though to escape it, so 

 startled was I at this sudden apparition. 



I saw it again, or one of its fellows, a few days later. 

 Summer had been followed by a long period of calm 

 hot weather right up to the beginning of October. 

 The fish which appear at that season were easily 

 caught in nets as they approached the shores in hosts. 

 The sardine, mackerel, and tunny fishermen were 

 delighted and took full advantage of this unexpected 

 harvest. And the sharks, which are the fishermen's 

 principal competitors, were also hunting these hosts of 

 fish. Three of them were caught almost one after the 

 other in the nets which were being set for tunny. 

 These were porbeagle sharks of quite respectable size, 

 almost all about sixteen feet long. 



Their appearance and construction, although they 

 are like those of other fish, yet have certain peculiarities 

 which add to the strangeness of the beast and increase 

 the impression caused by its size. The skin is granular, 

 rough, and covered with small conical and hard denticles. 

 The bare gills have no opercula; they open as vertical 

 slits at the sides of the neck. The tail is long and 

 thick, a sort of thinned-out prolongation of the trunk, 

 and has a fin below it. When it is lifted up no 

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