Posted on 03/07/2010 9:24:28 PM PST by americanophile
In what could be the ultimate marine smack-down, great white sharks off the California coast may be migrating 1,600 miles west to do battle with creatures that rival their star power: giant squids.
A series of studies tracking this mysterious migration has scientists rethinking not just what the big shark does with its time but also what sort of creature it is.
Few sea denizens match great white sharks and giant squids in primitive mystique. Both are the subject of popular mania; both are inscrutable. That these two mythic sea monsters might convene for epic battles in the stark expanses of the Pacific is enough to make a documentarian salivate.
For more reserved scientists, the possible link between sharks and squid, suggested by marine ecologist Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute in Fallbrook, is just one part of emerging research that has altered their understanding of the great whites.
The shift began eight years ago with the surprising discovery that great white sharks migrate, somewhat as humpback whales do. That and subsequent studies have demolished the iconic image of great whites lurking in relative shallows, ready to snatch an errant swimmer, as popularized in the movie "Jaws."
Domeier said he believes the animals "are not a coastal shark that comes out to the middle of the ocean. They are an ocean shark that comes to the coast. It is a complete flip-flop."
Picture them not as a dorsal fin off the beach but rather as an unseen leviathan swimming through black depths where the oxygen thins and fish glow in the dark, and maybe pouncing on a 30-foot squid.
The squid part is controversial. But Domeier's work and that of other scientists increasingly suggests that great white sharks are not randomly roving eating machines.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Much better fight between the Sharks and the Jets, and they dance too.
Forgot where (as seen on TV) A large sea aquarium had an octopus eating their sharks.
Whoa! My gaydar just went off due to the West Side Story (show tunes) reference.
I saw both movies: Leviathan with the Peter Weller and the other oversized monster with the “size is dependent on remote depths” explanation is Deep Rising. Both movies are on Youtube..
“Now DO NOT tell me it was based on real stuff.”
Bush’s fault and Global Warming.
It would be even better if we found out Great whites fought gorillas, or elephants... :P
wow!
LOL!
As currently understood, sperm whales are the primary predator of giant squid, and are frequently observed with sucker scars from the squid’s tentacles. If this account is true, I would have expected more great whites to have had evident scarring from the same. Also, I know most sharks caught have pretty extensive inventories done of their digestive tracts, and to my knowledge giant squid don’t feature largely in the literature in that regards. I’m not saying GW’s don’t eat giant squid, but I don’t suspect it’s as frequent or epic as this makes it sound.
:-) LOL!
Killer whales > all. ;p
I totally agree.
I wonder if they're just picking off the leftovers from the whales.
Search youtube for Batman and the Exploding Shark... and enjoy!
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