Poseidon Sciences Biological sciences: ideas, problems and solutions photo: Shark’s Cove, Hawaii CPT. Jennifer McIntyre Shark Tales: JFK, Mercury 7 astronauts and shark repellents Jonathan R. Matias February 21st, 2012 This seems such an odd topic from the start, but I was certainly the thrill of watching the spaceships blast thought it’s worth revisiting in celebration of today’s off to space. Yet, I was more keenly interested in the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s orbital flight around splash down when the capsule plunges into the sea on the earth. John Glenn and Scott Carpenter (who will its return trip. There was that unexplainable excite- be celebrating his own 50th anniversary in May) are the ment at seeing the helicopters hover around the cap- last surviving members of the original seven astronauts sule to retrieve the astronaut and the tiny space cap- of NASA’s Project Mercury. Though two other Russian sule. What seemed odd at time were the other heli- cosmonauts had orbital flights before his, John Glenn’s copters hovering around with sharpshooters on flight was America’s first and its board. It wasn’t till later when I got success changed the momentum interested in sharks that I learned of the race to the moon to Ameri- why. ca’s favor. So, this is my “Shark’s Tale’ for you. Looking back 50 years, I am al- And it’s not about saving the shark ways amazed at the significant from extinction, who got bitten lately advances mankind has made as or about shark fin soup. Before I tell a result of the space race with you the rest of the story, I would like Soviet Russia — calculators, to tell you a little bit more about shark computers, internet, among repellents first. many. Mankind seems to excel when in competition, whether at Between sports fishing, by-catch from war, in commerce or in the arts. longline fishing and the Chinese pen- The rudimentary equipment half chant for shark’s fin soup, mankind a century ago could not even has devastated the world’s shark compare with the precision of our population to the point that sharks are digital age. Many of the technol- becoming endangered. But the fear ogies we now take for granted of sharks remains with us. It is a vis- were pioneered by the men and ceral fear. More people die of bee women of Project Mercu- stings than shark bites. With bears ry. Those that followed in their or lions, the fear is also there, but wake made American pre- tempered by the fact that we can al- eminence in technology possible. ways carry a gun, can run off in a jeep or simply hide inside a house. Space travel was a fascination With sharks the fear is magnified be- for me long after the Mercury astronauts had made cause there is really not much one can do in the water their mark in history. I was only aware of them through if the shark decides to take a bite, mostly by mistaking later documentaries. As a young boy in the 60’s, there us for a seal or a big fish dinner. In North America prior to 1916, there was never a fear frighten sharks, but to repel/stun organsims as it of sharks simply because there had been no docu- glides along the sandy bottom of the Red Sea. It is mentation of sharks attacking human beings in tem- the Mose’s sole’s fast food drive-in! Like our quick trip perate waters. to McDonald’s for a fish sandwich. In 1891 Hermann Oelrichs, a banker/adventurer, even When purified, this 33 amino acid peptide repellent put up a reward for anyone who can document a was called pardaxin, a term coined by Naftali Primor, shark attack in the temperate waters of North Ameri- an Israeli scientist funded at the time through ONR, ca. Everything changed in 1916, detailed in Richard working in one of the laboratories at New York Univer- Fernicola’s book entitled “Twelve Days of Terror,” sity. As my research team at NYU Medical Center when, in over a span of just 12 days, four people tended to work long hours, Naftali often came by for a along of the shores of New Jersey were killed by a short visit at night, the first time to get some of our shark, most likely a bull shark rather than a Great ‘extra’ mice for his pet snakes. We talked often about White (a story that inspired Peter Benchley’s book, sharks, snakes, Israel and Chinese food. During this “Jaws.”) period, he was able to demonstrate pardaxin’s mecha- nism of action. This peptide create pore channels The idea of a shark repellent was not new. It was through the gill membrane that causes a sudden rush suggested way back in 1895. However, serious work of sodium ions through the gills. Likely, it is perceived on the idea started with the US Navy during World by the shark as an ‘unpleasant” or perhaps a painful War II when airmen and sailors inevitably find them- experience. Naftali used to go out to the fishing port selves in shark infested waters. The sinking ofUSS in Montauk Point at the end of Long Island to remove Indianapolis, a destroyer that carried the atomic bomb gills from sharks caught by fishermen. It took a day’s to the tiny Pacific island of Tini- hard work to get enough for his an, by a Japanese torpedo made research. One night, he came that need imperative. The mis- back totally disgusted and ex- sion was so secret then that no hausted. The cooler was just open SOS signal was transmitted for a moment and seagulls rushed even as the ship sank with over to eat all the shark gills he collect- a 1,000 sailors in the wa- ed. By then my interest in pardax- ter. When they were finally res- in got stimulated. Yours truly‘s cued 4 days later, only 316 re- contribution to shark science was mained alive, the rest were eat- helping him dissect late into the en by sharks. night the opercular cells out of the killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus, to The Navy developed a shark re- use a model system to validate the pellent, called the “Shark Chas- concept. Certainly beats hanging er.” It was ineffective, yet given around fishing ports for shark gills to sailors more for morale to al- and fighting off seagulls! He told lay fears of sharks rather than as me one night jokingly that Orien- a true protection. Shark re- tals are the ones with the patience search continued after the war for this kind of work. I just chuck- through the Office of Naval Re- led because I knew he was right! search (ONR) through the 1960’s with not much success My real interest was to develop a either. gadget, a release mechanism that would enable dispersion of pardaxin or pardaxin-like Eugenie Clark, a world renowned shark expert, dis- analogues around the person in water upon seeing covered in the 70’s that a flat fish in the Red Sea, apt- the shark. Great idea, if we only had enough repel- ly called Mose’s sole (Pardachirus marmoratus), can lent. I did manage to develop a prototype for the de- repel sharks. Sharks have a powerful bite and when vice that still sits on my desk till now with many fond committed to a potential meal, would not likely memories. But, back then the cost of synthesizing the stop. When the fish is about to be bitten, the shark active compound and the liability issues (if the person stops at mid bite and run’s off like a scared rabbit. who have the device got bitten) in a litigious society like United States made the project at that time quite It was found later on that the flat fish has glands along daunting. its sides that secrete a venomous cocktail of peptides and steroidal compounds, presumably not meant to Naftali eventually re- sued for the Shark Stopper, an acoustic device to turned to Israel, but ward off sharks. Wet suits with surface patterns to continues to work on mask the silhouette of a man underwater are also be- venoms. This time ing developed. More promising areas of work these his interest is turned days involve semiochemicals, associated with decay- on to new exciting ing shark carcasses (Shark Defense Technologies) research on the anal- that act as small molecule messengers that modulate gesic effects of small shark behavior. peptides from snake venoms. This new JFK and the Mercury astronauts concept, called Zep3, is a promising tech- Consider this scenario: America sends a daring nology for relief of young astronaut, the cream of the crop of military pi- chronic pain and lots (immortalized in the book and movie entitled ‘The treatment of various Right Stuff’), the best among the best, in a space ship skin disorders, such to outer space at a cost of billions of dollars in today’s as those caused money; against all odds, the ship survives re-entry HSV viruses. This and the tiny capsule comes back to Earth, lands in the Dr. Naftali Primor holding a re- scientific adventure ocean; the astronaut comes out alive from the tiny strained venomous snake( Daboia started me on the space capsule, swims to be rescued and then eaten palaestinae). Its venom is being used path of studies on re- by a shark in full view of journalist and shown on live for the production of a life saving anti pellents, leading to television all over the world! This was President John venom.