334 Shark and Company 



mutilated by sharks, especially Great Blues. The catch of one expedi- 

 tion included 6,000 sharks. Of these 2,500 were Great Blues, more than 

 any of the other eight species caught. Not only were Great Blues the most 

 abundant, they were also the most widely distributed sharks. On a map 

 charting the domains of various species of sharks in the Pacific, the realm 

 of the Great Blue appears as a huge shadow that stretches along the 

 coast of North America and extends outward, beyond mid-Pacific. 



They are common, too, off the west coast of Africa, and, in the 

 warm months, off the south and west coasts of England, north to Scot- 

 land. British sports fishermen catch thousands of Great Blues every 

 year off Looe, Cornwall. (The English don't call the Great Blue great; 

 "Blue shark" is their British name.) 



Practically all of the Blue sharks caught off Cornwall are gravid fe- 

 males that have migrated there to drop their pups. Just the opposite is 

 true of the catch on the western side of the North Atlantic— these are 

 almost invariably males. The separation of the sexes at calving time has 

 been observed among many species of sharks, possibly because these 

 species practice cannibalism. 



The Great Blue includes exotic fare in its diet— flying fish and sea 

 birds resting on the surface. But it is not too proud to scavenge offal 

 from ships it sometimes follows for days or weeks. 



Like most oceanic sharks, the Great Blue brings forth her young 

 alive, and prolifically. A Great Blue less than 10 feet long can give birth 

 to 50 young, each about 1 foot in length. 



Tiger Shark 

 (Galeocerdo cuvieri Lesueur, 1822) 

 (Also Known as Leopard Shark) ^ 



The Tiger shark is generally considered to be one of the most dan- 

 gerous sharks a man can encounter. At least two Tigers caught off Florida 

 had parts of human bodies in them. The men may or may not have been 

 alive when the Tigers found them. 



In the West Indies, the Tiger is feared as the most dangerous of the 

 many types of sharks that prowl those waters. In Australia, many attacks 

 on bathers have been blamed on Tigers. In India, the Tiger is accused 

 of man-eating along both the eastern and the western coasts. 



Cannibalism is so often practiced by voracious Tiger sharks that 

 some observers of the Tiger's ruthlessness believe that smaller Tigers 

 deliberately give wide berth to their bigger relatives. On a Tiger shark 

 hunt in Philippine waters, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service vessel's crew 



^ The true Leopard is vastly different in size, shape, and species from the Tiger 

 shark {Galeocerdo cuvieri). But, unfortunately, the Tiger is sometimes referred to as 

 a "Leopard," in still another case of confusing Selachian name-calling. 



