Shark Treasures 191 



expedition for tuna found one-third of its catch "badly mutilated" by 

 sharks; another fixed the shark damage at 19 per cent. Reporting on a 

 1953 Gulf of Maine long-line exploration for tuna, J. J. Murray of the 

 U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries said: "Shark catches totaled 493 

 individuals (13 times the tuna catch) with an estimated round weight 

 of 90,000 pounds." 



Yet, most of these sharks are being wasted. Almost invariably, they 

 are thrown away as trash, when the fact is that they are not. For the 

 most part, as we have seen, they are tasty, nutritious food, eaten in 

 many parts of the world and in some areas of the United States. They 

 are also the source of a wide variety of useful and amazing products. 



Since ancient times, the shark has been a source of magical potions. 

 The Greeks of Aristotle's day believed that the ashes of a shark's tooth 

 rubbed on a child's gums relieved teething pains; that shark brains boiled 

 in oil and applied to an aching tooth eased the pain; that the flesh of the 

 flat-bodied Monk or Angelfish prevented swelling of the breast; that the 

 liver of the skate was a remedy for earache; that the brain of the Torpedo 

 ray could be used as a depilatory; that the liver of the Sting ray cured 

 scrofula, relieved itching, and cleared up skin diseases. 



Fishermen have insisted for years that shark oil is practically a 

 panacea, equally good externally as a balm for rheumatism, an ointment 

 for burns, or an antiseptic for cuts— and internally as a cough medicine, 

 a laxative, and an all-around tonic. Sir Samuel Garth, a physician, in 1699 

 mocked British apothecaries for using such outlandish pharmaceuticals 

 as dried crocodiles and sharks' heads, but the use of selachian remedies 

 persists to this day. A recent advertisement for "the most expensive 

 facial preparation in the world" boasted that one of the beauty cream's 

 priceless ingredients was shark oil, "so vital to skin health." 



Among some primitive peoples, the shark's claspers are regarded as 

 exceptionally eflFective aphrodisiacs, and one of the charms of shark fin 

 soup, according to some Chinese, is its aphrodisiac quality. '^ 



The uses of other shark products are often more practical than fanci- 

 ful. Some Eskimos in Greenland make knives from the teeth of the 

 Greenland shark (Sofmiiosus microcephalus) and cut their children's 

 hair with the shark-knives, for iron is considered taboo for hair-cutting. 

 The Eskimos also cut long strips from the hide of the Greenland shark, 

 join the strips together, and use the tough shark hide as rope. Some 

 American Indian braves lucky enough to encamp near fossil grounds 

 used fossilized shark teeth— still sharp after millions of years— as razors. 



In the Sandwich Islands, now our fiftieth state of Hawaii, when the 



^ Maidens of ancient Rome who read their Pliny carefully would know how to 

 counteract shark fin soup's amorous effects; all they had to do was eat the liver of a 

 Torpedo ray, which Pliny said was an antaphrodisiac. 



