Shark Treasures 199 



Ocean Leather Corporation experts have tried to tan samples of the 

 colossal hide of the Basking shark and the huge hide of the Giant Devil 

 rav, but their attempts have so far been unsuccessful. 



The insatiable demand for sharkskin has inspired few fishermen 

 to give up their regular fishing and concentrate on sharks alone, for 

 sharking is usually a very undependable way to make a living. Though 

 there is a practically unlimited supply of sharks in the sea, catching them, 

 skinning them, and preparing them for shipment is work that is always 

 hard and frequently frustrating. 



An expert at one of the world's rarest professions— shark-skinning— 

 can separate a shark from its hide in about 15 minutes. It's a job that 

 tires the strongest man and dulls the sharpest knife. (One advantage of 

 the shark's sandpaper-like hide, though, is that the knife can be honed 

 on it! ) 



After a shark has been flayed, the hide is fleshed and then cured 

 in salt for four or five days. The hides must be protected from the 

 sun and the rain, for, at this stage, they are relatively perishable and 

 can be spoiled by dampness or burned by the sun. After the curing, 

 the hides are packed in bundles or barrels and sent to the tannery. 



Fishermen are paid on the basis of the hide's size and condition and 

 the species of shark. In skinning the shark, the tail, part of the head, 

 and the area around the gill slits are lopped off, so the over-all length 

 of the shark's body is not what the fisherman is paid for. His payment 

 is based on the length of the hide. The basic price for a first-grade hide 

 runs from |1 for a hide 35 to 39 inches long to $9 for a first-grade hide 

 110 inches or more long. There is a premium on Tiger shark hides. 

 The Tiger commands a price of from $2 for the smallest size to as 

 much as $14 for the large sizes. 



For a hide to be first grade, it must have no sour spots (caused by 

 rotting of the hide); no butcher cuts (caused by sUps of the skinner's 

 knife); no harpoon holes— and no fighting scars, so called because they 

 are believed to be the result of encounters with other pugnacious sharks. 

 (Some shark experts believe, however, that since the scars are so fre- 

 quently found on adult females, they result from encounters with over- 

 amorous males.) Second- and third-grade hides are relatively lower in 

 price. 



Enterprising fishermen can also make money on such odd but mar- 

 ketable shark products as canes and "petrified pups." The canes are made 

 by stringing shark vertebrae along metal rods; they sell for as much 

 as $20. A "petrified pup" is made by preserving fully formed shark 

 embryos in formaldehyde. The mummified result is a shark model, 

 suitable for display on a mantelpiece. (A similar embalming process has 

 been used— so help us— to make earrings out of shark eyeballs! ) 



The denticles are not removed from the hide of certain small sharks. 



