THE TARPON 159 



gieo soon attracted sharks to the scene and the advent of the 

 nearest shark caused others more distant to concentrate from 

 which he concludes that sharks keep watch of others precisely 

 as do vultures. While a fish was swimming freely the sharks 

 seemed to pay it no attention. 



From these experiments it is evident that the moment it per- 

 ceives that a hooked tarpon is acting in an abnormal manner 

 the shark not only undertakes its capture but others from afar 

 join in the pursuit actuated by some sense, which he makes no 

 attempt to explain. Fishes have a keen sense of smell, but have 

 poor eyesight. They are near-sighted. Like a dog they per- 

 ceive a body in motion much better than one at rest. Dr. Beebe 

 observed that the struggles of fish, so attached to the line that 

 they did not bleed, attracted the sharks. He concluded that it 

 was the abnormal movements of the bait and not the sense of 

 smell that led the shark to make the attack. 



Tarpon anglers have an excellent opportunity to verify 

 these conclusions. 



I have read that fishermen of the South Sea Islands call up 

 sharks by emptying cans of salmon into the tideway and that 

 it is very effective. Holder baited them by pouring blood into 

 the water. 



I have used the blood method and this is the way I went 

 about it. I procured beef blood in Buffalo and had it treated 

 with a preservative so its smell would not drive us out of the 

 boat. The boat was anchored at a spot where the bar shelved 

 down sharply into deep water. A fish was suspended on a 

 shark hook under the boat and a harpoon made ready to throw 

 when the shark appeared. The blood was then poured into the 

 tideway in a small stream. On two occasions sharks caught 

 the scent and following it up, came to the bait, where they were 

 harpooned before they seized it. One was a hammerhead and 

 the other a gulf shark. They were played from the bow. A 

 heavy window sash cord was used as a harpoon line and it an- 

 swered very well. They were lanced and killed after quite a 



