Fig. 352. The Shark (Carcharius vulgaris).
The sharks are said to attain the length of twenty and even thirty feet; but its size is not its worst attribute. It has received, besides, strength and terrible arms. Ferocious, voracious, impetuous, and insatiable, spread over almost every climate, an inhabitant of every sea, and recently not seldom seen on our own shores, the shark rapidly pursues every fish, which fly at its approach; and threatens with its wide gullet the unfortunate victims of shipwreck, shutting them out from all hope of safety.
The body of the shark is long, and its skin is studded with small tubercles: this skin becomes so hard, and takes so high a polish, that it is employed for various ornamental purposes. This resisting power protects the shark from the bites of every inhabitant of the sea, if there be any daring enough to approach it with that view.
The back and sides of the Shark, Carcharius vulgaris (Fig. 352), are of an ashy brown; beneath it is faded white. The head is flat, and terminates in a muzzle slightly rounded. Its terrible mouth is in the form of a semicircle, and of enormous size; the contour of the upper jaw of a shark of ten yards length being about two yards wide, and its throat being of a proportionate diameter to this monstrous opening. When the throat of the animal is open we see beyond the lips, which are straight and of the consistence of leather, certain plates of teeth, which are triangular, dentate, and white as ivory. If the shark is an adult it has in the upper as in the lower jaw six rows of these murderous arms, an arsenal ready to tear and rend its victim. These teeth take different motions according to the will of the animal, and obedient to the muscles round their base, by means of which it can erect or retract its various rows of teeth; it can even erect a portion of any row, while the others remain at rest in their bed. Thus this far-seeing tyrant of the ocean knows how to measure the number and power of the arms necessary to destroy its prey: for the destruction of the weak and defenceless one row of teeth suffices; for the more formidable adversary it has a whole arsenal at command.
The eyes of the shark are small, and nearly round; the iris of a deep green, the eyeball, shaped in a transversal slit, is bluish; its scent is very subtle; its fins are strong and rough.
The pectoral fins are triangular, and much larger than the others, extending on each side, and giving powerful aid in swimming. The caudal fin is divided into two very unequal lobes, the upper extending in a sloping direction to twice the length of the other. This tail is possessed of immense power, and is capable of breaking the limb of a robust man by a single stroke.
During the hot season the male and female seek each other; they approach the coast roving in company, forgetting their ferocity for the time. The eggs are hatched at several periods in the ovary, from which the little ones issue two or three at a time.
The shark, as soon as born, becomes the scourge of the sea. He seizes all that come near him. He eats the cuttle-fish, molluscs, and fishes; among others, flounders and cod-fish. But the prey which has the greatest charm for him is man; the shark loves him dearly, but it is with the affection of the gourmand. It even manifests, according to some authors, a preference for certain races. If we may believe some travellers, when several varieties of human food comes in its way, the shark prefers the European to the Asiatic, and both to the negro. Still, whatever may be the colour, he seeks eagerly for human flesh, and haunts the neighbourhood where it hopes to find the precious morsel. He follows the ship in which his instinct tells him it is to be found, and makes extraordinary efforts to reach it. He has been known to leap into a boat in order to seize the frightened fishermen; he throws himself upon the ship, cleaving the waves at full speed, to snap up some unhappy sailor who has shown himself beyond the bulwarks. He follows the course of the slaver, watching for the horrors of the middle passage, ready to engulf the negroes' corpses as they are thrown into the sea. Commerson relates a significant fact bearing on the subject. The corpse of a negro had been suspended from a yard-arm twenty feet above the level of the sea. A shark was seen to make many efforts to reach the body, and it finally succeeded in seizing it, member by member, undisturbed by the cries of the horror-stricken crew assembled on deck to witness the strange spectacle. In order that an animal so large and heavy should be able to throw itself to this height, the muscles of the tail and posterior parts of the body must have an astonishing power.
The mouth of the shark being placed in the lower part of the head, it becomes necessary to turn itself round in the water before it can seize the object which is placed above him. He meets with men bold enough to profit by this conformation, and chase this formidable and ferocious creature. On the African coast the negroes attack the shark in his own element, swimming towards him, and seizing the moment when he turns himself to rip up his belly with a sharp knife. This act of courage and audacity cannot, however, be said to be shark-fishing. The fishing operation is conducted as follows:—Choosing a dark night, a hook is prepared by burying it in a piece of lard, and attaching it to a long and solid wire chain; the shark looks askance at this prey, feels it, then leaves it; he is tempted by withdrawing the bait, when he follows, and swallows it gluttonously. He now tries to sink into the water, but, checked by the chain, he struggles and fights. By-and-by he gets exhausted, and the chain is drawn up in such a manner as to raise the head out of the water. Another cord is now thrown out with a running knot or loop, in which the body of the shark is caught about the origin of the tail. Thus bound, the captured shark is soon hoisted on deck, as represented in Pl. XXV. On the quarter-deck of the ship he is put to death, not without great precaution, however, for he is still a formidable foe, from his terrible bites and from the still dangerous blows of his tail. Moreover, he dies hard, and long resists the most formidable wounds.