Swim At Your Own Risk: September 2005

Friday, September 30, 2005

Crocodile Double Murder!


Russell Harris' crocodile-mauled body was found shortly after he disappeared while snorkelling in Australia last Sunday. Then, 4 days later, in the same area, a man was collecting fish and coral for his aquarium supply business when a crocodile bit his head right off!

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Who Cares If They Can Act...


How do you get a decent performance from a wood plank and a helium balloon? Just add water. Into The Blue opens today! Not only did he crack his skull during filming but Paul Walker also likes to get peed on. As for Alba, I heard she was a quivering wreck every time she had to get in the water. I can't wait to see this!

Thursday, September 29, 2005

The "Unholy Trinity"


The tiger, the bull and the great white account for about 90 percent of the shark attacks on humans and have been dubbed the "unholy trinity."

More Squid News...


Apparently, hundreds of monster squid have been washing up on beaches all over the place and they have a nasty history. In Mexico they call them "los diablos rojos" (the red demons) and fishermen tell stories of men being pulled from their boats and dragged to their deaths by these real-life monsters!

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Giant Squid Caught On Film!


Japanese scientists snapped some pictures of a 25 foot squid! This is the first-ever record of a live giant squid (Architeuthis) in the wild.

The animal was photographed 2,950 feet beneath the North Pacific Ocean. The scientists attracted the squid to cameras attached to a baited fishing line. Why didn't I think of that?

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Killer Dolphins On The Loose!


Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. The dolphins were taught to shoot at divers in wetsuits during simulated terrorist exercises. So if a diver or windsurfer is mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber the dolphin could fire a sleeping dart at them, which is not deadly but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?

An investigator who has worked for government and industry, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the US government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped.

The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed from a commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eight were found with the navy's help, but the dolphins were not returned until US navy scientists had examined them.

more on this...

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Shark Facts...


Dogfish sharks are named for their tendency to attack their prey as a pack of wild dogs would.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Jaws Jr.


Well, it looks like my nightmares have become reality. It may have been a baby but a great white shark was caught in a popular lake, stunning experts and spooking local residents... and Great White sharks are born complete with razor sharp teeth and begin feeding immediately after birth!

The 6.5 foot shark - dubbed Jaws Junior - was found dead by local fishermen in a commercial fishing net they had set to catch Bream in shallow calm waters about 1500 feet off Canton Beach, Australia (Canton Beach is a favorite vacation spot for families beacuse the lake is, uh... was the perfect place for children to swim.)

"It was small and young, but big enough to take a limb off or swallow a head whole." YIKES!

A shark expert said the juvenile great white might have followed mullet into the lake.

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Could've Been His Last...


Josh Berris was celebrating his 26th birthday by surfing at the remote beach of Cape du Couedic on Sunday when a 16 foot shark knocked him off his surfboard and grabbed his legs. He was just sitting on the board waiting for the next wave when the shark hit him from underneath and knocked him off. After biting his legs, the shark grabbed his board, dragging Josh who was still attached to the leg rope. He managed to pull his leg rope off and his friends quickly dragged him back to shore saving him from certain death.

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Sunday, September 25, 2005

Sunday Funnies

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Ouch!

Surfer Smiles At Shark... Then Clocks Him!


Brad Satchell, 44, was surfing at the popular Scarborough beach in Perth, Australia on Friday when he saw a shark heading straight for him. At first, he thought it was a seal and was actually smiling at the thing! But when he realized it was a shark, he wised up and used his surfboard as a shield and started punching it in the head. He paddled to safety, unharmed.

Thanks Brenda!

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Friday, September 23, 2005

Victim Of The Day


Click it if you wanna see it larger!

Sounds A Little Fishy...


So this man brings a 6-pound shark into a local grocery store in Georgia on Tuesday, claiming he had caught it in the river behind the store, identifying himself as Tim Allen (like the guy from"Home Improvement.")

The man asked the store owner if he could identify the fish, and when then store owner told him to contact the authorites, he "suddenly had to be somewhere" and ran off, leaving the shark behind.

The next day, six more sharks, two to three feet long, (and not looking too good), were found on lines and in a net at the river's dam. Authorities said they'd probably been caught somewhere else and somebody was trying to pull a fast one.


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Thursday, September 22, 2005

The Shark Shocker


A new wetsuit is being patented that takes advantage of the fact that sharks have sensitive receptors in their snouts which detect electrical fields in the water. This helps them track prey, but if the field is too powerful the shark backs off.

The neoprene wetsuit has special fibers woven into its fabric connected to metal electrodes which generate a charge by the wearer’s movement. During normal swimming, the suit continually generates several volts which flow through the water to create a deterrent field. If the diver sees an undeterred shark and swims fast to get away – a natural reaction, one suspects – the suit generates much higher voltages and stronger fields.

If the shark still fails to get the message and bites the suit, it gets a shock in the mouth and – hopefully – gives up.

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Diver Sues Aquarium After Shark Bites Ear


A 24-year-old man is suing Changfeng Park after a shark in its aquarium bit his ear and head while he was scuba diving. Zhang Liang is seeking 415,000 yuan ($51,235) in compensation, including 400,000 yuan for mental anguish.

Zhang and his friends were accompanied by two diving coaches. After their 15-minute dive was up, the coaches gestured to the three men to swim to the surface of the aquarium. At that point an 11.5 foot shark swam up to him from behind and bit the right side of his head and his ear. The bite needed three stitches to close and doctors pulled a shark's tooth from his head.

"I was very lucky. If the shark had bitten my head strongly, I would have died," said Zhang. "Now I suffer from a serious mental disease as I often have visions of sharks."

The park has agreed to pay his medical bills, but says hell no to compensation for mental anguish.

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Stay Away From Myrtle Beach


A 68-year-old New York woman was the third shark-bite victim in the Myrtle Beach area this summer! She was bitten on her right arm, leg AND on her heel. That shark was hungry! A local marine scientist said he's not surprised and that if you could see the number of sharks near the shore, you would see how few bites there are compared to the how many sharks are out there...

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That Bethany's Got Balls!


Bethany Hamilton has won the O'Neill Island Girl Junior Pro, two years after a shark bit off her left arm. Man... I woulda never gone back in the water.

In An Octopus's Garden...


Two divers have broken the record for staying underwater. They lived down there for 10 days - the longest period of time ever. To make their stay more comfortable they were given exercise machines, a television, a table and some chairs. I wonder if they got pruney fingers.

Victim Of The Day

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Heart Attack Kills Diver...


A diver died from a heart attack yesterday while snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. I'm guessing something down there must have scared him real bad.

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Somebody Please Take Me Here!



The world's first underwater restaurant... I hope that glass doesn't crack.

Monday, September 19, 2005

No Thanks!


Kelly Tarlton’s, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has just launched ‘Shark Survival’, an underwater, cageless encounter for visitors wanting to test their fear factor and get up close and personal with these creatures of the deep. Yes, you can pay $285 to go swimming with a bunch of sharks. I think I'll pass.

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British Couple Nearly Become Fish Food


Louise Woodger and Gordon Pratley surfaced just 20 minutes into their dive yesterday and realized their boat was not there. I know... just like in that movie Open Water, right?? They had drifted away from the boat in the strong current. This time, though, the two divers lucked out... after floating aimlessly in shark-infested waters for nearly six hours yesterday they were finally spotted by another diveboat and rescued.

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Sunday, September 18, 2005

Play The Jaws Game!

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Shawks!


Watch this! Thanks to Liz for sending me this rib-tickling collection of Shawk toons! Ew, did I just say "rib-tickling?"

Friday, September 16, 2005

When's Lunch?

Victim Of The Day


Kiss Me, I'm... Scottish?


According to The Wildlife Trusts' Basking Shark Project for 2005, out of 180 sharks spotted over a 10-week period, 172 were sighted in Scottish waters.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

R.I.P. Mr. Whale


People at Mnandi Beach showed no respect for this poor whale after it was put down yesterday. Apparently the whale had beached itself and it was impossible to get the thing back into the ocean so they blew it's brains out (literally). Afterwards, the peanut gallery decided to pose in front it for snapshots and use it as a giant slide. Gross.

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You Talkin' To Me?


RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! A pack of rowdy sea lions has invaded Newport Harbor, sinking boats, trashing docks and just plain disturbing the peace, barking nonstop. They even sank a 37-foot sailboat! The bullies have attacked swimmers, chomped boogie boards and even yanked people off boats. They're are also taking over Monterey, trapping people on their own boats, attacking city workers and defecating and vomiting on docks.

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Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Male Shark Preggers?


It took them 8 years to figure this out? One of the oldest sand tiger sharks in the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk is an 8-foot-long male, which developed an unsightly protuberance on its underbelly about eight years ago. Then some of the smaller sharks got buddha bellies too. Nobody could figure out what was causing this so finally someone had the bright idea to give that shark a sonogram. Turns out it was lumps of gravel in their tummies. Those sharks will eat anything...

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Remind Me Not To Go On Vacation With The Schwartz's


I don't actually know the Schwartz's but this is a picture from their family trip to the Bahamas.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Shark Sighting Closes Maili Beach


For the second time in two weeks, Ocean Safety officials closed a popular West Oahu beach on Sunday after a 10 ft shark was spotted just ten yards form shore. They only closed the beach for 2 hours... Do sharks just magically disappear after 2 hours? You know it was still there.

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Catfish Gobbles Up Dog!


Local fisherman at a lake in Seina, Germany were floored after seeing a giant catfish eat a dachshund swimming in the water... they believe the 5 ft fishie is on a killing spree and is responsible for scarfing down other small animals as well as a large pet.

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Monday, September 12, 2005

Overeaters Anonymous


Did you know that sharks can go at least six weeks without feeding? The record for a shark fasting was a Swell Shark which didn't eat for 15 months... so why are they always eating us?

Victim Of The Day

Shark House


On the 41st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Bill Heine woke up and decided to install this shark diving into his roof (as a stance against nuclear war.) Anyway, the locals objected and tried to have it removed, even offering to have it relocated to a more "appropriate" spot, but Bill went and called the national gov't and got permission to keep it just where it was.

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Sunday, September 11, 2005

It's OK Justin, They Scare Me Too


Justin Timberlake confesses that he's scared to go back in the water.

Why Is She Smiling?


In 1993, Lifeguard Dawn Schauman, who was 6 1/2 months pregnant, was viciously attacked by a 10 foot bull shark. Evidently the incident was so life-changing that Dawn's husband (and rescuer) decided to write a book about it.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

What's That Smell?


Yep, sharks can detect one part of blood per ten billion parts of water – that means they could detect one drop of blood in an area the size of an Olympic swimming pool! The nose of a shark is used for smell and smell only.

Nibble Nibble



A young Sydney surfer got bit by a shark on Wednesday at Park Beach in Australia during a surfing competition. 15 year-old Blake Garnett was just standing beside his surfboard (in waist deep water) hoping to catch a wave when he felt something pulling him down. Then, it let go and started nibbling on his foot! Blake's mates carried him up to the beach where they could see that he had a bite mark across the toes and three deep, wide slashing cuts on his ankle. Needless to say, he was taken to the hospital.

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Friday, September 09, 2005

The Shark Whisperer



Move over Jennifer Love Hewit...

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Set Your Tivos...


ESPN2 will be airing the first of 4 segments of the 2005 Monster Shark Tournament this Monday, Sept 12 at 8pm. The three other segments will air on September 19th, September 26th and October 3rd, each at 8pm. I honestly think this will be my first time ever to watch ESPN.

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Play Mad Shark!

The Great White Shark Song VIDEO!


Click here to watch it!

Written and performed by Andy Brandy Casagrande IV

Visit Andy's website to learn more about the research he's doing.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

"Something" Attacks Girl At North Carolina Beach


"Something" bit an 18-year-old girl yesterday at North Topsail Beach, NC. She was walking on a sandbar when suddenly something grabbed her leg... They cannot confirm it was a shark, (please, what else would it be??) but she was bleeding like the dickens and had to be taken to the hospital. Apparently, the waters of Onslow County are so murky it's been years since they've had a "confirmed" shark attack, but i'm guessing plenty of "something" attacks...

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I Spy With My Little Eye...


THREE IDIOTS!