Somewhere in the vast oceans, beginning more than 300 million years ago, primitive sharks first appeared.
They continued to evolve when dinosaurs ruled the earth, as the first birds fluttered against the wind, when the first mammals suckled its young.
Now, in the time of man, the shark's domain is invaded more and more often by an ungainly biped-seeking recreation.
The shark is seen as a living symbol of terror. The nightmare is reenacted time and time again.
The remorseless killer, the helpless victim.
In fact, the remorseless killer is most often ourselves, the shark, the victim.
Millions upon millions have been killed and exploited, even as we have extolled the shark's ferocity.
More and more, we are invading the domain of sharks. By accident and by design, we are encountering them eye to eye.
It is a meeting fraught with both fear and fascination.
To know these creatures is to go where few have gone before, to do what few have dared.
I invite you to join our exploration of a forbidden domain, the undersea world of the sharks.
Music
Consider a shark, at one with its element. It is a fish, but differs from others largely in its lack of a bony skeleton.
Out of the water, it is an ungainly delicate creature that may be crushed to death by its own weight. But here, it moves with supreme assurance and grace.
For the most part, sharks live and die in a shadowy world beyond human understanding or compassion. In popular conception, all are man-eaters, and all deserve to die.
Anal fin, the tail fin, and the two dorsal fins are median fins.
The remarkable Dr. Eugenie Clark is a professor of zoology at the University of Maryland. From childhood, Dr. Clark has been fascinated by undersea life, and sharks in particular.
As her studies have progressed, she has sought to popularize her view that sharks are a greatly exaggerated menace to man.
Once I had all four of my children when they were quite young in the water, and somebody yelled, shark, shark, and I couldn't see the shark. I had no idea how large it was.
I just wanted to gather the children together and get out of the water. And then suddenly we saw this big hammerhead shark, and just all of us looked, and we were just amazed.
It was so beautiful, and it circled us once, and then turned and went away, and we were so disappointed to see it go.
With growing confidence, Eugenie Clark and a handful of other scientists are seeking out sharks in the wild, observing their ways in intimate detail.
When the shark comes right up to my face and looks right into my eyes and I look at it, I just feel that I'm with one of the most magnificent creatures in the world.
Divers who dive with sharks a lot, I think all have the same feeling that these animals are not the vicious, terrible things that people have built them up to be.
We're invading their ecological environment, and if we behave, they'll behave too.
In the very jaws of the shark, scientists find beauty and efficiency. For instance, most sharks are highly streamlined. It would seem they could only bite something directly underneath them.
But at the crucial instant, the whole shape of the shark's head can change. The jaw is thrust forward, and the teeth extended outward. It's a swift and fascinating transformation.
During its attack, the shark's eye may seem vulnerable, too close to the flailing victim in its jaws. But many species have a special protective membrane that can snap closed in an instant.
The notorious jaws of a great white, the largest predatory shark. The prominent teeth will cut paper as cleanly as a razor blade.
This awesome weapon never wears out. Most sharks shed their teeth frequently. They'll grow and replace thousands of them in a lifetime.
There are nearly 350 species of sharks. Most are harmless to man, and very different from our common idea of them.
In their sheer variety, sharks are wondrous animals indeed.
A basking shark, weighing over six tons. Like great whales, this extraordinary creature strains plankton from the sea, swimming with its huge jaws agape.
More than 1,600 tons of water an hour pass through the cavernous mouth, day after day, year after year.
The biggest fish in the world, the whale shark, may attain more than 40 feet in length and 13 tons. It, too, is a plankton feeder, docile and generally harmless.
Underwater encounters with the whale shark are very rare and highly exhilarating. The cruising giant may accommodate passengers, sometimes carrying divers for miles.
The study of sharks is an exciting frontier for enthusiasts like artist Richard Ellis. In 1976, it fell to Ellis to do the first drawings of a giant species of shark previously unknown to science.
Fourteen feet long, with enormous gaping jaws, the new shark is known informally, but aptly, as Megamouth.
The only known specimen was entangled in a sea anchor and brought aboard a Navy research vessel.
It is possible, perhaps likely, that other equally bizarre species of sharks still lurk undiscovered in the ocean deep.
These eerie pictures were captured by an automatic camera at depths over 6,000 feet. Exotic types of sharks were filmed coming in for bait.
Some have never been photographed alive before. Very little is known about how these deep sea sharks survive in the eternal dark and cold of the oceanic abyss.
Off the eastern coast of Mexico in the early 1970s, a discovery was made that contradicted long-standing misconceptions about the behavior of sharks.
An intrepid freediving fisherman was exploring underwater caves in search of prey.
He found sharks. They were apparently healthy, but lethargic, showing little inclination to attack or flee.
Reports of their remarkable behavior would soon filter back to Eugenie Clark.
Well, everyone thought that that type of shark just kept swimming all the time and had to in order to survive.
But here we found this interesting phenomenon of at least one species of shark, streamlined shark, that had adapted itself to going into a cave and stopping for long periods of time,
perhaps several hours, according to Valvala, one of the divers, who repeatedly went into the cave. So the question was why were they going in there?
Seeking first to verify and then to explain the so-called sleeping sharks, Eugenie Clark leads a series of expeditions to Mexico.
These explorations are marked by both skepticism and tension. If the sharks are in the caves, it will be very surprising.
And if they are found, no one can be sure how they will behave when confronted in confined corners of the caves.
It is true. And baffling. These sharks belong to species always thought to be perpetual swimmers and highly dangerous to man.
Most of the sleeping sharks are being cleaned by remoras, fish commonly found in company with sharks. They meticulously remove parasites from the shark's body.
For the first time, the remora's housekeeping services to its host can be closely observed and filmed in the wild.
Divers ultimately grow so trusting of these sleeping sharks, they will dare to touch and caress them. The gesture would be considered madness under normal circumstances.
It's a heart-stopping moment when a large tiger shark suddenly becomes alarmed and was chewed between attack and escape.
Eugenie Clark discovered that sea water here is mixed with fresh water seeping from the sea bottom. This can loosen the grip of parasites that afflict sharks and allow the remoras to work most effectively.
The sleeping behavior may be prompted by the unusually high oxygen content of these waters, making it easier for sharks to breathe without swimming and perhaps having a narcotic effect the sharks enjoy.
The phenomenon of sleeping sharks remains a fascinating mystery. It's possible that many sharks sometimes behave this way, lying in huge underwater dormitories that are yet to be discovered.
World War II at sea. There had never been such a far-flung human conflict or such widespread fear of shark attack. Correctly or not, the deaths of hundreds were attributed to sharks.
Very few facts were known, but the U.S. Navy mustered all the reassurance it could, the product of too hasty research and pure hearsay.
Yes, there are sharks in the South Seas and barracuda and other dangerous fish, but some of us have been close enough to touch them and didn't lose anything more than about 10 years pleasant dreams.
Very few sharks are man-eaters. Brown-skinned natives of the South Seas readily swim in waters where sharks are plentiful, yet they are almost never attacked. There are many cases on record of our flyers swimming fully clothed near sharks without being attacked.
Maybe in their work uniforms they didn't look like good eating, but what is more likely, they were not seen. Sharks have very poor eyesight and rely mostly on their sense of smell for guidance.
They are also great cowards and can be easily frightened away. There have been many instances where one or more men in the water scared off approaching sharks by simply thrashing the water.
And believe me, brother, when you see a shark heading your way, you can really thrash. And you may be sure that somewhere ships are scouring the sea looking for you.
Much of this wartime wisdom did not stand up to later research. Shark chaser, a supposed repellent issued in great quantities during the war, was shown to be inadequate.
It did repel some sharks, but others treated it with total indifference.
The number of shark species considered potentially dangerous to man has decreased with continuing research.
Sharks proved much more sophisticated than the simple, stupid eating machines they were once thought to be.
It has long been known that shark sense of smell is key, but what about their vision and hearing? What sounds would repel or attract them?
Advising swimmers to thrash the water in order to frighten sharks away may have been extremely unwise.
The best evidence now suggests that such irregularly pulsed low-frequency sounds tend to attract rather than repel many species of sharks.
A University of Miami team conducts an eye examination on a tiger shark captured in the wild.
Amazingly, this shark submitted quietly to the examination, conducted in an improvised undersea laboratory off the Bahamas.
A few stitches prevent the protective membrane from closing over the eye.
The myth that sharks have poor eyesight is being dispelled. Sharks studied thus far appear to see quite well, although some are farsighted.
The shark's sensitivity to light is superior to humans, and they are especially good at detecting movement.
If man and shark meet, what provokes an attack? It is clear that no shark species normally feeds on man.
In an effort to understand the special circumstances that trigger an attack, dummy human forms are offered to the aggressive great white shark.
The great white does feed on sea mammals and shows little, if any, fear of man. It has undoubtedly attacked and killed humans, and was the living inspiration for George.
Do certain colors prompt attack? No definite answers are known, but available evidence tends to suggest that the bright, highly reflective hues commonly used for life-saving equipment do nothing to discourage an aggressive shark.
One expert, only half joking, has suggested that sharks may be attracted to life vests when they are the color he morbidly terms yum-yum yellow.
The beaches of eastern Australia and South Africa have until recently been the most notorious for shark attacks.
The Queensland coast of Australia was shocked into action by two fatalities in December 1961.
Lifeguards and surf rescue patrols keep an eye out for sharks and give the alarm if any are seen near bathers.
Offshore, an array of nets keeps the local shark populations down.
The netted and patrolled beaches have been safe for 20 years, but anti-shark measures are expensive, and nets take a great toll of inoffensive creatures as well as the few species of dangerous sharks.
Whenever shark attacks have occurred, reprisals have been harsh and indiscriminate.
Despite its fearsome expression, the grey nurse shark is placid and harmless to man.
Passing in groups, young and old together, the grey nurse was a common shark in Australian waters until disaster struck in the late 1950s.
The grey nurse looked like a man eater and yet was easy to kill. Even for divers who knew better, the opportunity to appear a hero was often irresistible.
So the grey nurse shark was swept from many areas by human ignorance and bravado.
Nearing dangerous reef off the coast of South Australia, a party of scientists and filmmakers come to study the great white shark.
Although the great white is found in many parts of the world, he has been most easily studied here.
Blood and large quantities of horse meat and tuna are used to attract the great white.
Dr. John McCosker of San Francisco's Steinhardt Aquarium has a variety of experiments planned.
Australian Rodney Fox will also dive with his young son.
Especially since the publication of Jaws, many photographers, scientists and adventurers have sought to get close to the great white shark.
The fascination with ferocious sharks is out of all proportion to the damage they do.
Worldwide, perhaps only 50 attacks are documented each year. About 10 are fatal.
Rodney Fox was attacked by a great white in 1963. He suffered a terrible wound which required 462 stitches.
Undaunted, he now introduces his son to the creature that so nearly ended his life.
Dr. McCosker remembers.
We spent so much time in the water, you know, with the adrenaline level so high that it was hard to really understand what we were seeing.
But we did observe a very curious behavior, that is the shark would attempt to bite the prey item, in this case horse meat.
At the last moment, as it turned its snout up, could not see the prey item, would then grab the cage and shake the cage.
Occasionally the shark would ignore the cage, and us, and the horse meat, and would bite the propeller, or even would bite the magnesium plates on the underside of the boat.
And of course we just thought like everyone else that these stupid sharks would bite anything.
Here he comes, here he comes.
The great white often seems unable to locate the bait in the last seconds of his attack.
It has been recently discovered that many sharks have an acute sensitivity to electric fields detected through pores on the head.
They can sense even the very minute bioelectric fields generated by other animals, a kind of invisible electrical aura that surrounds all living creatures.
Seeking to explain the great white's strange behavior, McCosker reasons that the shark is using his vision as he approaches the bait.
But usually the shark relies on his electric sense in the final seconds before striking.
As he extends his jaws, his eyes roll back in order to protect them.
For an instant he is virtually blind.
At this moment the shark may become confused.
Metal objects nearby emit an overwhelming electric field, overriding that of the bait.
Lunging for the cage or the boat, the great white is making a basic mistake.
Just as eyewitnesses do when they assume that the shark will stop at nothing to take a bite of them.
Watch your foot! Watch your foot!
The shark behavior outside of the human element is probably quite simple.
But when we complicate the environment that the shark is swimming through by adding all of these electrical fields, the curious electrical fields that in its evolution it has had no cognizance of, it will then respond in very strange ways.
We then feel that this is a stupid, maniacal, ferocious, crazy shark, but in fact it's only responding to those sensory stimuli that it's developed over hundreds of millions of years.
In the Red Sea, at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, there are underwater reefs of rare ecological richness and diversity.
And that big Napoleon fish, do you think that's still here?
Eugenie Clark calls this area my laboratory and my favorite place on earth.
With her Israeli colleague David Friedman, she has dived here at Paras Mohammed many times over the years.
Okay, let's go.
Each thing I study underwater leads to something else, or ten other things.
And you go out with the aim of studying one particular behavior, and maybe the fish won't behave the way you expect it to, but it'll do three other things that you wonder, well, why is it doing that?
And suddenly you have more things to study and it goes on endlessly, and I could keep coming back to just one spot in the Red Sea.
And I'd never finish in several lifetimes all the things that I'd want to study.
Here Eugenie Clark made her best-known discovery, the remarkable qualities of a little-known fish.
So I was looking over in some sandy areas and I saw this thing that looked like a soul in the sand, and I went over and I thought, well, I could never catch it with my hands because you just can't pick up fish that way.
And I made a grab for it and I caught it.
And it was so unusual, I thought, why is it such a slow swimmer? And I didn't recognize the species, so I pressed it flat, and as I pressed it, this white milk came out of pores at the bases of the dorsal and anal fins, not where anybody ever heard of excretion coming out of a soul before.
And then I felt my hands and they were kind of astringent and I thought, gee, this must be a poison, and I'd like to study this soul.
In a series of tests, Eugenie Clark set out lines baited with live specimens of the fish she had found, Phartachirus marmoratus, or the Moses soul.
Also on the lines were chunks of tuna and other attractive morsels, which were soon devoured by local sharks.
But, almost always, the Moses soul survived unharmed.
In laboratory tests, sharks can be tempted to attack, but usually think better of it when they get a whiff of the soul's poison.
Eugenie Clark hopes that Moses soul toxin may someday be used to protect humans.
Many problems remain, but the humble Moses soul may now be hailed as the originator of the first known shark repellent that really works.
In many parts of the world, basic research on sharks is going forward.
Here in California, a team from the State University at Long Beach has perfected a compact sonic transmitter and a way to attach it to angel sharks.
She's been out of the water about two minutes. Let's try not to wait more than one more.
The transmitter is relatively inexpensive and can operate up to four months.
With this equipment, scientists have their first real opportunity to track the movements of sharks in the open sea.
Beautiful. All right.
Preliminary results show unexpected extremes in the angel shark's behavior.
It may lie dormant on the sea bottom for several weeks.
At other times, it's remarkably active, traveling as much as four miles overnight.
All right, Jeff, let's try it here.
That's pretty close, Jeff.
Some sharks disappear mysteriously at certain times of the year.
Others are known to migrate over great distances.
Baby sharks of some species are hardly ever found.
The sharks of one sex may be abundant while the other is entirely absent in a given area.
Such research may eventually help to explain these mysterious phenomena.
One of the more puzzling sharks is the hammerhead.
No one can explain the strange and spectacular hammerhead schools that are found in Mexican waters.
Possibly this is associated with hammerhead mating,
but the mating act itself has rarely been observed among large sharks in the open ocean.
The courtship of grey nurse sharks has been seen and photographed in an Australian aquarium.
This may be the only existing film of such reproductive behavior.
It's a violent affair.
The male repeatedly bites the female in a tender gesture only sharks would understand.
The females of some shark species have skins twice the thickness of the males,
possibly to prevent serious injury at times like this.
Every few years in coastal waters of the eastern Pacific, a spectacular assembly begins.
Millions upon millions of squid mysteriously appear to mate and lay their eggs.
The male squid frantically pursue the females,
sometimes two or more clasping a female in the mating embrace.
The squid's normal defensive instincts are totally suspended.
For fishermen, the squid run brings long nights of hard labor.
The squid are attracted instinctively to bright lights at the surface.
Up to 10 tons of them may be taken in a single evening.
Here, the shark is considered a hated rival to be shot and killed on set.
For a few daring scientists, this is a rare opportunity to get close to feeding sharks.
Zoologist Bob Johnson is one of them.
It was very disorienting in that at night you didn't know which way was up always.
If you were balanced out correctly under water, up wasn't always up.
And because of the squid situation, they may be thick above you or they may be thick below you.
And everything was oriented towards the light rather than towards the surface.
So it was very awkward at times.
You'd see the sharks coming underneath and you'd finally try and get in.
And of course, the instant you get in, you're blinded and you can't see them anywhere.
And when you do see them, they're right in front of you all over.
They'd be racing past you, eating gulps of squid.
They'd come out of the corner of your eye as you're turning and watching for these animals
because you couldn't keep them in one direction.
You had to consistently turn in the water to watch in all directions.
And they weren't attempting to bite us.
They were attempting only to feed on the squid.
But if you got your arms or your legs or your body in the wrong place at the wrong time,
you'd very easily get bit.
Simply to observe how sharks feed, Johnson and his companions
must risk becoming a meal for sharks themselves.
Recent experiments off the California coast have addressed the problem
of getting close to sharks in safety.
Australian filmmakers Valerie Taylor and her husband Ron
may know as much about shark attack as anyone alive.
I've been bitten twice by sharks and once it was quite nasty
and it happened out here off San Diego in a similar situation to what we are today.
But it was basically my fault.
I was swimming around in a lot of bait, a lot of chum was in the water,
and the shark came up. He was looking for something to eat.
I didn't see him. And it's important you see the shark.
And I didn't see him. I was looking at two other sharks
because there are 30 or 40 in the water and you can't watch them all the time.
And he simply bit me. There's no great drama, nothing.
He just bit me. I grabbed him. I wouldn't allow him to take the piece out,
which he probably would have done, and I beat him off.
And they have such sharp teeth, of course.
It had gone through a quarter inch wetsuit and an inch and a half into my leg.
The mesh suit is going to stop all that sort of thing.
I'm not going to get bitten again.
The tailors don stainless steel suits reminiscent of medieval armor.
Meanwhile, the waters around are baited with hundreds of pounds of fish.
In response, blue sharks will congregate here within a few hours.
I'm a bit worried about the gaps in the gloves, Ron.
Which gaps?
Oh, they don't quite come around on the wrist, I noticed.
Yeah, mine are the same. You've just got to be careful.
I just have to be careful?
Yeah, it's right on the wrist.
I just don't want to have an artery cut.
I don't want to have an artery cut.
It's right on the wrist.
I just don't want to have an artery cut.
There you are.
All right.
Jonathan, come in here.
Yeah, that's what their teeth do when they get on it.
That's the noise you hear.
And you really think it's getting into you.
You think of that terrible noise, but it doesn't.
They make these for butchers.
John has invited shark attack numerous times to test her 12-pound suit.
Each prototype costs about $2,000,
but the suit's protection could be invaluable
to those who are impelled to dive with sharks under dangerous conditions.
All right.
Good, thanks.
...
The scent of bait is heavy in the water,
yet Valerie Taylor has to entice the sharks to feed.
Once they're eating, she'll draw the bait close to her body,
hoping the sharks will become confused between her and the fish.
...
The situation gets out of hand.
It's all Valerie can do to protect her face and mask.
The shark strips off Valerie's steel glove and swallows it whole.
...
The thing that happened was he got the glove off somehow.
He just ripped it off, and this hand, this naked hand was in his mouth.
So I put that hand in so that he couldn't crunch down on it.
I did it just like that, but you can see why he got the thumb,
because it was sticking up.
Oh, boy. What a blast.
That's him swallowing my glove.
I don't think you ought to go back in with it bleeding like that.
Oh, the blood won't make any difference.
It's an $40 glove.
...
I was screaming and my throat saw.
All I wanted was someone to punch him off, make him let go,
you know, withdraw, the way they withdraw.
Yeah, but nobody knew that you had that problem, you see.
No. Oh, well.
And there's no use screaming because somebody...
It takes them a few seconds to get over to you,
and the shark can have really done a lot of damage in that time.
So you've got to be totally soft-contained.
Well, I figure I did all right, Ron.
But there's a weakness in the system.
The gloves have got to be attached to the arm.
Well, the only way you learn these things, isn't it,
is by trial and error.
That was an error.
A trial and an error.
To date, the suit has proved very effective
in preventing injury from attacks by sharks of average size.
Development and testing continue.
Japan, a modern technological culture
much influenced by the sea and its creatures.
Part Japanese, Eugenie Clark grew up
with traditional folk tales involving the sea,
perhaps an inspiration of her career.
On a recent visit, a meal consisting entirely of shark delicacies
was served in Eugenie's honor.
In Japan and other countries,
there's a popular prejudice against eating shark,
and so it's sold under a variety of euphemistic names.
Much tradition and rituals surround shark fishing in Japan.
In a remote village, the shark fishing season begins
with the blessing of a bottle of rice wine, sake.
The sake is made from the sea.
It's made from the sea.
The next day, at sea, the ceremonial sake
is sprinkled over the boat, the lines, and the bait.
The boat's left warms the fishermen and bolsters their courage.
Pounding on the boat's hull with a wooden stick
is a ritual to ensure good luck.
It may have scientific basis.
Such noise could attract sharks.
Nine miles of line will be dropped over side,
baited with 300 hooks.
No more efficient method of shark fishing is known.
Sharks are capable of destroying most kinds of nets
and, in any case, are rarely found in schools.
It's hard labor bringing in the lines,
and the task takes hours.
On any of the hooks, there may be a 400-pound shark
in fighting humor.
Today, 15 sharks will be taken, including a large hammerhead.
A hammerhead is considered auspicious,
a messenger bringing a favorable sign from the god of the sea.
A shark feast celebrates the opening of the fishing season.
These shark fishing families appear to be dying out in Japan.
Those who endure are held in unusual respect.
No one fights harder to wrest a living from the sea.
Tokyo's fish market, the largest in the world.
In four frantic hours,
more than $8 million change hands here each day.
How many pounds of four-beagle did they get today?
Eugenie Clark visits the market with a venerated colleague,
Dr. Tokiharu Abe.
To marine biologists,
this market is a vast treasure house of data,
an ever-changing census of the sea.
Often hundreds of sharks can be examined here
before they are sold at auction.
Japan's shark industry is diversified and full of curiosities.
Besides the market for the meat,
many other uses for shark have been exploited here.
Shark skins are removed for use as leather.
The tanning process is complicated, laborious,
and something of a trade secret.
The resulting leather goods are said to be almost indestructible.
The price is proportionately high,
some $200 for a wallet, over $1,300 for a woman's handbag.
Kamaboko is a kind of fish cake made from the meat of sharks.
It's packaged to be eaten as a snack
and is popular with millions of Japanese.
Off the shores of eastern Japan,
fishermen pursue a rare and little-known specialty,
deep-sea sharks.
Scientists like Eugenie Clark and Dr. Abe
visit the boats frequently.
Fishermen are the source of much of our present knowledge
of deep-sea sharks
and have often been responsible for the discovery of new species.
A creature from another world.
The huge luminous eye is adapted to detect
what little light exists over 2,000 feet below.
It may also serve as a glowing ewer to attract the shark's prey.
In Japan, deep-sea sharks have been put to commercial use.
The market for them began during World War II
when there was urgent demand for a special oil to lubricate fighter planes.
Such oil was to be found in the shark's liver,
a very large organ accounting for as much as 25% of its body weight.
Today, oil from deep-sea shark livers is in demand as a medicine and health food.
A capsule a day, it is said, helps to prevent heart disease
and promotes longevity.
Despite medical skepticism,
some Japanese believe that oil from deep-sea sharks is a cure-all,
effective against everything from constipation to cancer.
Applied externally, shark oil is used by Japanese doctors
to treat burns and minor aches and pains.
In the United States and most western nations,
sharks inspire interest, mostly for sensational reasons.
Aquarians and oceanarians draw large crowds to shark exhibits,
but they try to demonstrate that not all sharks are dangerous.
Eugenie Clark is given the opportunity to dive in the New England Aquarium
and meet the resident nurse sharks,
docile creatures which tend to rest on the bottom of the tank for most of the day.
I want people to understand that the danger from shark attack
is so slight that they don't have to worry about it.
People come to me and say,
what will I do if I go in the water and see a shark?
You don't have to do anything.
The chances of that shark coming over to you
and especially attacking you in any way is so remote.
It's just like saying, what should I do if I see a car driving down the street?
You don't have to get off the street.
What's the chances of that car hitting you?
Occasionally a car runs off and hits somebody walking on the sidewalk,
but you shouldn't waste all your time preparing for such a remote accident.
The sea should be enjoyed.
The animals in it.
When you see a shark underwater,
you should say how lucky I am to see this beautiful animal and his environment.
Music
It may be many years before Eugenie Clark's attitude becomes widespread,
for in the minds of men,
the shark provokes a deep-seated, almost instinctive fear.
But even now, there are new kinds of encounters between man and shark beneath the sea.
Music
Off the coast of Japan,
a diver photographer recently chanced upon a shark egg case
attached to a clump of soft coral.
The case, apparently a lifeless bit of flotsam,
revealed its secret contents when illuminated from behind.
A shark embryo, developing and alive.
Inspired, Japanese divers returned time and time again as months passed,
until at last they were able to witness and photograph for the first time in the open sea
the birth of a shark.
Music
For the divers, this was a deeply thrilling moment.
They felt they had touched an inner secret of life
and glimpsed a wonderful mystery.
Thus, one hopes, man and shark may meet in the sea and pause and pass on,
each doing the other no harm.
Music
Off the coast of Japan,
a diver photographer recently chanced upon a shark egg case
attached to a clump of soft coral.
Music
Off the coast of Japan,
a diver photographer recently chanced upon a shark egg case
attached to a clump of soft coral.