[MUSIC PLAYING]
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.
And the shark is seen as a living symbol of terror.
The nightmare is reenacted time and time again, the
remorseless killer, the helpless victim.
[SCREAMING]
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.
And 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.
We invite you to join our exploration of a forbidden
domain, the undersea world of the sharks.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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 medium fins.
There's just one--
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.
--fishes called [? chondrexes, ?]
the cartilaginous fishes.
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 significant 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 built them up to be.
We're invading their ecological environment.
And if we behave, they'll behave too.
In the very jaws of a 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 basket shark, weighing over 6 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.
14 feet long with enormous gaping jaws, the new shark is
known informally, but aptly, as mega mouth.
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
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 longstanding
misconceptions about the behavior of sharks.
An intrepid free diving 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
[? Valvolo ?], one of the divers who repeatedly went
into the cave.
So the question was, why were they going in there?
First to verify and then to explain the so-called sleeping
sharks, Eugenie Clark leads a series of
expeditions to Mexico.
The first 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 cave.
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 the 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 must choose
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 that 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 US Navy mustered of 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 fliers swimming fully
clothed near sharks without being attacked.
Maybe in their work uniform, they didn't
look like good eating.
A lot more likely, they were not seen.
Sharks have very poor eyesight and rely mostly on their sense
of smell for guidance.
They 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 totally
indifference.
The number of shark species considered potentially
dangerous to man has decreased with continuing research.
Sharks prove much more sophisticated than the simple,
stupid eating machines they were once thought to be.
It has long been known that sharks'
sense of smell is keen.
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 shark.
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.
They myth that sharks have poor
eyesight is being dispelled.
Sharks studied thus far appear to see quite well, although
some are far-sighted.
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
living inspiration for Jaws.
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, 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.
Life guards 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.
[INAUDIBLE].
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 had been
harsh and indiscriminate.
Despite its fearsome expression, the gray nurse
shark is placid and harmless to man.
Massing in groups, young and old together, a gray nurse was
common shark in Australian waters until disaster struck
in the late 1950s.
The gray nurse looked like a ma-neater, and
yet, was easy to kill.
Even for divers who knew better, the opportunity to
appear a hero was often irresistible.
So the gray 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 Franciso's Steinhart 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, with adrenaline levels
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.
And 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.
It 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 will bite anything.
The great white often seems unable to locate the bait in
the last seconds of this 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 bate.
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.
Like a whale.
A lot of meat, isn't it?
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 in its evolution it has had no
cognizance of, it will then respond in very strange ways.
We then feel 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 Napolean 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 Ras Mohammed many times over the years.
OK.
Let's go.
Each thing I study under water leads to something else, or 10
of the things.
And you go out with the aim of studying one particular
behavior, and maybe the fish won't behave the way you
expected 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 sole 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 sole 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 sole.
In a series of tests, Eugenie Clark set out lines baited
with live specimens of the fish she had found,
Pardachirus marmoratus, or the Moses sole.
Also on the lines were chunks of tuna and other attractive
morsels, which were soon devoured by local sharks.
But almost always, the Moses sole survived unharmed.
In laboratory tests, sharks can be tempted to attack, but
usually think better of it when they get a whiff of the
sole's poison.
Eugenie Clark hopes that Moses sole toxin may someday be used
to protect humans.
Many problems remain, but the humble Moses sole may now be
hailed as the originator of the best known shark repellent
that really works.
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
for up to four months.
With this equipment, scientists have their first
real opportunity to track the movements of
sharks in the open city.
Beautiful.
Alright.
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.
Alright Jeff, let's try it here.
[TICKING SOUND]
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.
And 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 associated with hammerhead mating.
But the mating act itself has rarely been observed among
large sharks in the open ocean.
The courtship of gray 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 speeches 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 the bright
lights at the surface.
Up to 10 tons of them maybe taken in a single evening.
Here, the shark is considered a hated rival, to be shot and
killed on sight.
[GUN SHOTS]
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.
At night, you didn't know which way was up always.
If you were balanced out correctly underwater, up
wasn't always up.
And because of the squid situation, they maybe 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, your 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 eyes.
You're turning and watching for these animals, because you
couldn't keep 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 to see the shark.
And I didn't see him.
I was looking at two other sharks, because there were 30
or 40 in the water.
And you can't watch them all the time.
And he simply but me.
There's no great drama.
Nothing.
He just bit me.
I grabbed him.
I wouldn't allow him to take a piece out, which he probably
would have done.
And I beat him off.
And the teeth, of course, it had gone through a quarter
inch wetsuit and inch and a half into my leg.
The mesh suit's got to stop all that sort of thing.
I'm not going to get bitten again.
The Taylors 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?
They don't quite come around on the wrists, I noticed.
Mine are the same.
You just got to be careful, ey.
Just have to be careful.
Yeah.
Right on the wrists.
I just don't want to have an artery cut.
There you are.
Alright.
[INAUDIBLE].
Yeah.
That's what they keep to when they get on it.
That's the noise you hear.
And you really feel it getting into you because of that
terrible noise, but it doesn't.
They make these--
Valerie has invited shock 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.
Alright.
Thanks.
There you go, Valerie.
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 bate close to her
body, hoping the sharks will become confused between her
and the fish.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The sharks rips off Valerie's steel glove
and swallows it whole.
[INAUDIBLE].
I'm all right.
Don't drop me.
[INAUDIBLE].
Did he damage your hand, Valerie?
Yup.
He damaged my hand alright.
He got the glove off and he continued-- he
wouldn't let go.
[INAUDIBLE]?
I don't know [INAUDIBLE].
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.
And you can see why I got the thumb sticking up.
Oh boy.
What a blast.
[INAUDIBLE] 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 a damn $40 glove.
I was screaming and my throat's sore.
All I wanted was someone to punch him off, make him let
go, you know, withdraw the way they withdraw.
But nobody knew that you had that problem, you see?
Oh well.
And it's no use screaming, because somebody--
It takes a few seconds to get over to you.
And the shark can really done a lot of damage in that time.
Oh.
So you've got to be totally self-contained.
Well, I figure I did all right, Ron.
You did very well.
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.
Yeah.
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.
[SPEAKING JAPANESE]
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 ritual 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 next day at sea, the ceremonial sake is sprinkled
over the boat, the lines, and the bait.
What's left warms the fishermen and
bolsters their courage.
Pounding on the boat's hull with a wooden stick is another
ancient ritual to ensure good luck.
It may have scientific basis.
Such noise could attract sharks.
9 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 net,
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 rest a living from the sea.
[SINGING IN JAPANESE]
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 porbeagle did they get today?
Eugenie Clark visits the market with a venerated
colleague, Dr. Tokiharu Abe.
200 pounds.
200.
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.
[SINGING IN JAPANESE]
Japan's shark industry is diversified and full of
curiosities.
Besides the market for the meat, many other uses for
sharks 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, fisherman pursue a rare
and little known specialty, deep sea sharks.
Scientists like Eugenie Clark and Dr. Abe visit the boats
frequently.
Fisherman 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 eyes adapted to detect what little
light exists over 2,000 feet below.
It may also serve as a glowing lure 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 new 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.
[SPEAKING JAPANESE]
In the United States and most Western nations, sharks
inspire interest, mostly for sensational reasons.
Aquariums and oceanariums 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 do I do if I go in the
water and I 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 in his
environment.
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.
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.
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 PLAYING]