bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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 Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:49 am Post subject: The cookie-cutter shark |
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These are very interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syISlRJTaw4
See the link for pics:
http://www.10kswimmer.com/2009/03/whats-cookiecutter-shark.html
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We applaude
That surprised me because these little sharks bite just about everything that swims. Tunas, mahimahi, billfish, dolphins, monk seals, dugongs, humpback whales, sharks, rays and others occasionally bear the scars of cookiecutter shark bites. One even took a bite out of a rubber part on a submarine.
In all these cases it's a pretty sure bet who did the biting because the cookiecutter shark leaves a signature as distinct as the Z of Zorro. The bite is the size and shape of an Oreo cookie.
Cookiecutters are tiny for sharks, growing only 20 inches long. They swim in tropical waters around the world but almost never connect with people because they spend their days in the deep ocean, sometimes more than two miles down. They come to the surface to feed, but only at night.
Mike was 11 miles offshore, at night, when he was bitten.
The cookiecutter is well suited to cut round chunks of flesh from its prey. The shark has protruding jaws and big suctorial lips, a term biologists use to mean they suck. When a prey gets close, the shark strikes by digging its needlelike upper teeth into the skin. Hanging on with its suction-cup lips, the shark then rotates its body in a circle, using its lower saw-shaped teeth to cut out a plug of flesh.
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Sample wounds produced by the shark:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cookiecutter_damage.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnlAHSYQNz4 |
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