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60 L and ittle-known n 1881, a was captured and killed in the waters off New York City. When its stomach was cut open, a buffet of items was found, including an old shoe; a partly digested, young, shovel-nose shark; several small , including sunfish and porgies; and a ginger ale bottle, corked but empty. In 1935, a in an aquarium near Coogee Beach, Australia, vomited up a human arm with a tattoo of two boxers wearing red shorts. The arm was identified as belonging to Australian gangster James Smith, who had disappeared several weeks earlier.

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t SHAR NATURE acts abou KS allow f d-to-sw nd har own a j A lemon shark 060_09Kids_Sharks 4/29/09 11:53 AM Page 62

62 Detectives discovered that one of James’s partners in crime had cut his body into pieces and thrown them into the ocean. It is believed that a baby shark ate James’s arm, but before it was able to digest it, the young shark was eaten by a tiger shark, which was captured soon after and brought to the aquarium. A tiger shark j The “Shark Papers” that were found inside the stomach of a shark These items have been found in the stomachs of : • a man’s wallet • a blue penguin • 25 bottles of water • a handbag (1 quart each) containing bound together 3 shillings with a wire hoop • a belt • a nearly whole a wristwatch reindeer • • a full-grown spaniel • 6 horseshoe crabs • a yellow-billed • 3 bottles of beer cuckoo Tiger sharks may be the most gluttonous of all sharks. They have been known to try to digest beer bottles, bags of potatoes, coal, dogs, overcoats, a driver’s license, a The jawbone of a tiger cow’s hoof, the antlers of a deer, and a shark. This shark eats chicken coop with feathers and bones almost anything and is the most dangerous of still inside. Fortunately for them, tiger all species of fish. sharks have a kind of safety valve if they eat too much junk food. They throw up. NATURE 63

was

because he Nancy

Nancy D

E

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I

a British ship, seized the

T

N n August 1799, an American ship named O sailing in the Caribbean Sea, captained by Thomas

Briggs. All was well until the captain of the H.M.S.

Sparrow, believed that Thomas was smuggling goods between C

FISH CATCHES MAN

The documents became known as the “Shark Papers” and are

been caught by a “bloody shark fish.”

Thomas claimed that he was innocent, but he was arrested and a trial he had thrown the papers overboard. He was angry that he had

During the trial, a British merchant ship arrived in Jamaica. Its captain

Aruba, an island near Venezuela, and the United States. No longer able to lie, Thomas confessed that before he was captured,

was scheduled in Kingston, Jamaica. Because the lawyers had little evidence to prove that he had been smuggling, Thomas was confident that he would be freed of all charges. on exhibit at the Institute of Jamaica. For a while, the shark’s jaw was claimed to have proof that Thomas was guilty. While at sea, the British crew had caught a shark; inside its stomach, they had found papers with details about smuggling that Thomas had written!

on display near the courthouse at the corner of Harbour and Hanover streets in Kingston as a reminder that honesty is the best policy. The jaw is now also at the Institute of Jamaica. 060_09Kids_Sharks 4/28/09 1:03 PM Page 63 PM 1:03 4/28/09 060_09Kids_Sharks 060_09Kids_Sharks 4/29/09 12:01 PM Page 64

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What is a shark’s favorite kind of sandwich?

A: Peanut butter j and jellyfish! A great white shark

j

Remora fish hitch a ride on the of a lemon shark.

j

See what some kids (and teachers!) are doing to save sharks at www.sharks.org/education_kids.htm. 060_09Kids_Sharks 4/28/09 1:05 PM Page 65

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SHARK MARKS NATURE • Although the use of shark body parts as food and in products is diminishing in much of the world, shark fin is still used to make soup and shark meat continues to be eaten. • Shark skin was once a popular alternative to leather. • Shark liver oil was once used as an ingredient in cosmetics, as a salve to help wounds heal, as a source of Vitamin A, as a protective coating on wooden boats, and as street-lamp fuel. • Shark body parts are used as ingredients in some tanning oils and glues. • Shark teeth are used in jewelry and ceremonial objects. T Thheeyy arree ttoo CCaarree DDa emoras (shown at left) and pilot fish are often found R hanging out with sharks, which serve as 24/7 “bodyguards” for the smaller fish. attach themselves to a shark and help to keep it clean by eating parasites, lice, small crabs, and other critters that live on its skin. Sometimes, remoras will cling to the inside of a shark’s mouth (never in its stomach) and remove bits of food between the shark’s teeth. Occasionally, a will leave the shark for a while to feast on scraps of food that the shark has left floating around. It then swims back and reattaches itself to the shark. Pilot fish swim ahead of and alongside a shark and feast on scraps released as the shark feeds. It is unclear why sharks don’t eat pilot fish.