Has anyone here ever been rather obsessed w/ shark attacks?

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Shark attacks were once a special interest, totally. Eventually they became a normal interest--the same level of interest that half the world currently has (every week there's something about a shark attack or shark sighting in the major news outlets, so there must be a big demand for this kind of news), plus shark backpacks, shark lunch boxes, shark leggings, shark jewelry, that "Baby Shark" cartoon, shark tees, etc.

This was one of my biggest hyperfixations ever. I'm now watching SHARKWEEK on National Geographic; I particularly enjoy "When Sharks Attack."

Anyone with me here?

There was a place that I went scuba diving on Maui. It was a shore dive where I found a small bubble cave not far from the shore. In the cave was a reef shark and he was not too happy that I was in his cave. Reef sharks are fairly harmless and it was neat to see him up close. It was obvious that he was not ready to give up his cave so he kept circling around the edges while waiting for me to leave. As I said, it was a shore dive and probably not more than 50 feet away was a bunch of people playing on the shore. I'm sure most all of them were oblivious to the fact that there were sharks so close by. I'm not really afraid of sharks in general however there are some types of sharks, like tiger sharks, that are more aggressive and deserve a lot more respect.

Nope, I've never been obsessed with shark attacks.

Nope. Humans are much more dangerous than sharks have ever been. It's human attacks I'm unhealthily obsessed with.

^
For real.

Humans kill more humans.

And humans kill more sharks.

The "kill ratio" between us and sharks is in our favor by a million to one.

Even here in America (where there is an odd taboo against eating shark meat) they sell something called "mako" (short of 'mako shark') in grocery stores, and they also sell something called "steak fish" which also really shark.

And the way we kill sharks ...Asian fishermen will haul them aboard their boats...cut off their fins...keep the fins...and then throw the living amputated shark back into the water...so they can sell the fins to the shark fin soup industry.

species of shark

against shar finning

they have been with us for 450 million years, many strange ancient species

many extinct and many now becoming rare due to m8dern day fishing practices such as the porbeagle

I love shark movies

I love documentaries and I watched Shark Week every summer for years.
It was something I looked forward to every July.
After my son moved to Australia, I got a bit more wary about the dangers.

I am as into 'shark porn' as the next person.

Discovery (both the magazine and the cable network) love to exploit sharks. The magazine has its once a year shark issue, and the network has shark week. Like a playboy centerfold a shark on the cover sells. And I am into sharks too. But the gory details of shark attacks are not a thing that I am 'obsessed with'. If I were a med student specializing in shock trauma I might be obsessed with that though.

But yeah...there are common sense things to do to avoid becoming a filet FOR a fish. Like women should not swim while mensturating, no one should swim with a bleeding wound, and if you're swimming amongst seals dont use a boogy board because from underneath you look like a seal (great whites' fav meal).

You see online clickbait vids showing great whites encountering orcas (killer whales), with bad outcomes for the sharks. Actually these drone taken vids are usually disappointing. You dont show the Titans actually fighting. But even so... just seeing the two most badass creatures in the sea ...in the same frame...a pod of 25 foot orcas checking out a twenty foot great white... can be fascinating to watch.

Sharks as a group of animals are quite fascinating. Most shark species are actually harmless to humans, but some make up in weirdness what they lack in dangerousness.

There is a species of shark in northern Australia and southern New Guinea that ...walks on land!

The live in tidal pools where they chow down on the crabs that live there, but when the tide goes down and the pools are stranded away from the sea these sharks can walk on their specialized fins and just walk across the now dry land to the next tidal pool.

There is the small deep sea 'cookie cutter shark' which takes chunks out of its prey. And makes holes in the plastic sonar domes of nuclear subs.

And there are two species of sharks that are actually bigger than the great white: the basking shark, and the whale shark. But both are harmless to humans because they are both filter feeders that cant injest anything bigger than plankton.

Naturalplastic,

Sounds like you and I would have no shortage of conversation if we were to meet in a cafe.

The walking shark is the epaulette (pronounced ep-eh-let) and can stay out of the water for an hour.

There's one documented attack on a human by a cookie cutter shark.

Life must be SOOOO boring for filter feeders; what a boring way to eat.

About 500 species of shark with 12 known to have attacked humans including the lemon shark (a normally very docile, "friendly" species) and the sandtiger -- which has a very menacing look and is often used to promote the dangers of sharks, yet is actually a harmless species, though there are documented attacks -- but they were probably provoked. One of the documented lemon attacks was on an influencer who was floating in a body of water filled will lemons. One clamped on her arm.

Look how many people every year are bitten and even mauled to death by DOGS, but let's face it, a series on dog attacks wouldn't be as thrilling. However, seems like at least a few times a month I catch a headline of someone maulted to death by a domesticated dog.

I'm still very "into" sharks, though the interest no longer is classed as special, but when it WAS special ..... definitely a hyperfixation. This was before the Internet, so my ability to gain knowledge of sharks was limited, and of course, back then, they didn't have all these cable shows on shark attacks. I was always talking about sharks. Man kills 100 million sharks a year.

Yes. We should chat more often. Feel free to pm me.

Yes. Thats the name of the species: epaulette sharks. Like epaulettes on the shoulders of a military uniform. Not sure why the sharks are called that.

As a keen sea kayaker I try not to think about sharks too much when I'm out on the water. Fortunately on the NE side of the Atlantic most encounters are likely to be with the harmless Basking Shark. I've had a few encounters including having been 'bumped' by these very large fish but fortunately they are just plankton feeders.

I've also had a couple of unexplained encounters with things that have very aggressively 'bumped' my kayak from below. They may of course have just been Atlantic Grey Seals which are very common around the areas I go sea kayaking, but one in particular left me wondering if perhaps it was a shark encounter, perhaps a Porbeagle. There were no seals about and the 'bump' stopped me dead in the water. Porbeagles are not particularly big but they could still give you a nasty nibble. The encounter, on a remote part of the west coast of the Isle of Skye, left me feeling decidedly jumpy for some time afterwards.

my spouse never misses shark programs on TV and loves everything about them, not just the attack part. Just like dinosaurs, I think there is a bit of fascination for most people, or at least the little kid part of all of us.

Think you're safe...because you're on dry land? Think again!


land shark