The Shadoivs Attack 21 



over the world— from the beaches of Australia, South Africa and Cali- 

 fornia to the sun worshipers' meccas of Florida and the shores of Long- 

 Island. Between August 13 th and October 13 th, 1961, a total of 310 sharks 

 were caught off the New Jersey and the Long Island coasts by agents 

 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of a very limited study of 

 predators of game fishes. The catch, according to Dr. Lionel A. Walford, 

 director of Sandy Hook Marine Laboratory at Highlands, New Jersey, 

 included six Great White sharks {Carcharodon carcharias), ranging in 

 weight from 151 to 285 pounds.^ 



Florida, with its 1,277 miles of coastline, has at least 40 species of 

 sharks within its waters, most of which are said to be harmless. But 

 many a "harmless" shark inexplicably turns on man. One species, long 

 dismissed as harmless, has, in very recent times, been accused of 14 

 known attacks. 



Bathers have been scraped, maimed, or killed by small sharks, big 

 sharks, and such bizarre shark relatives as the Sawfish, whose long snout 

 is studded with thick and massive teeth, and the sting ray, whose tail is 

 a whip that bears one or more venomous spines. It is impossible to classify 

 precisely some sharks as harmless and some sharks as dangerous. 



But there is one shark that ranks above all others as a killer and 

 that is the Great White shark. Even after the attacks in 1916, when the 

 Great White was captured off New Jersey, U.S. Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries Hugh M. Smith said, "It must be regarded as comparatively in- 

 offensive in our waters." The Great White was then thought to be a 

 tropical shark. We know today, though, that it often cruises as far north 

 as Nova Scotia. The Great White is also described as a pelagic (oceanic) 

 shark, but it makes excursions into bathing areas. And monstrous speci- 

 mens have been taken not far from such areas. A 3,000-pound, 16-foot 

 Great White, for instance, was harpooned a few miles off Amagansett 

 Beach on Long Island in 1960. 



In 1950, the California Bureau of Marine Fisheries published a guide 

 to sharks found in that state's waters. The guide said that the Great 

 White was "uncommon at best in our waters, and, since it rarely comes 

 inshore, it is a negligible hazard to California swimmers." [Italics added.] 



One day in October, 1955, a shark appeared near two skin-divers 

 swimming not far from shore off La Jolla, California. The divers were 

 not attacked and the incident probably would not have been investigated 



1 Other species caught in the Fish and Wildlife survey: 124 Sandbars {Eiilamia 

 milberti), weighing 8 to 348 pounds; 77 Duskys (Carcharbimis obscuriis) , 12 to 590 

 pounds; 52 Smooth Dogfish (Mustehis canis), iVz to 18 pounds; 29 Tigers (Galeo- 

 cerdo cuvieri), 29 to 1,100 pounds; 9 Hammerheads {Sphyrna zygaena and Sphyrna 

 diplana), 24 to 225 pounds; 6 Makos (hums oxyrinchus), 220 to 320 pounds; 1 Sand 

 (Carcharias tauriis), 250 pounds, and a 650-pound Thresher (Alopias vulpinus). Six 

 sharks were lost before they could be positively identified. 



