One big fat momma

[dlndavid]

Record Hammerhead Shark Was Pregnant

POSTED: 7:50 am EDT June 30, 2006
UPDATED: 12:32 pm EDT June 30, 2006

SARASTOA, Fla. -- The likely world-record hammerhead shark caught in May weighed 1,280 pounds because it was pregnant with 55 pups -- the most scientists have ever seen.

http://www.wftv.com/news/9451628/detail.html

 

[mandjrae]

This really makes me sick. Having learned to appreciate aquatic wildlife, I don't understand why someone would want to kill such magnificent creature just for the sake of killing it, mounting it, or being put in "the record books." What a frickin' waste. I'm ashamed to be human at times.

 

[H2Andy]

yeah, i read that article ...

well... at the very least, they'll be able to take DNA from the mother and pups and
maybe find out about shark's mating habits (one or multiple fathers? over a peroid of
time or a brief session? etc.)

i also understand that this shark had many more pups than were belived possible,
so ...

anyway... like i said, that's just trying to make an omlelet out of broken eggs. it 's a real shame the mama and pups were killed.

 

[Allison Finch]

As a Florida native born and raised in Sarasota, I was greatly saddened by this story. I would have loved seeing such a grand beast underwater someday. Since their reproductive rate is incredibly slow, the loss of all of those pups was a tragedy. And all....for what? I line in an unread book somewhere?

 

[RICoder]

I'm not going to pass judgement on the guy, but this makes me sad and a little angry. Fishing sharks for SPORT is kinda on the unnecessary side. I get hunting for deer, and I get fishing, but going after apex predators is purely a bravado thing and kinda annoys me.

 

[Scuba65]

It makes me sick to read such stories!

 

[Diver Dennis]

Sad indeed.

 

[pterantula]

Can anyone give me a truly plausible reason why we can't hunt humans for "sport", if we're allowed to hunt sharks and big land-dwellers? (The folks who caught this shark should be fined, jailed, or tossed into the sea....)
Morals are subjective, but a double-standard is a double-standard, darnit.

 

[H2Andy]

some socities allow this to happen ... for example, the Aztecs would go to war
"for sport" in the sense that they would bring captives for sacrifice

cannibalism (especially in the Pacific) meant that certain tribes went out and hunted
other tribes for food.

essentially, this type of behavior isolates a society and cuts down on economic opportunities that come from trading goods and ideas/technologies with neighboring
societies (who's gonna trade with you if they're gonna get sacrified or eaten?)

i don't think it's a double standard. it's very common for species to recognize
"it's own kind" and more or less try to get along, while recognizing "not our kind"
(i.e. other species) as fair game. except for humans, almost no member of other
species fight themselves to the death, but have no trouble hunting and killing other species.

in that respect, we're very similar to most social animals.

 

[havnmonkey]

Next time I go to the beach I'm bringing my speargun!!!

I never quite understood why this is a contest... my friends fish; and I have gone fishing on occasion but they don't seem to just go out and kill the biggest thing they can. And if they do get a big catch they don't hand it over to a dude in a labcoat who just chops it up and says "Gee! That sure was a lot of babies!"

I know it's not usually known their pregnant at the time of catch, but come on! However, I'm happy to see they are (were) healthily reproducing.