Weekly World News » shark

WORLD’S BIGGEST SHARK

Frank Lake — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:52:07 +0000

Fishermen in the Pakistani port of Karachi caught the world’s biggest shark – ever!

They reeled in one of the biggest fish in the sea: a whale shark.

The Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper, reported that the 40-foot fish was first spotted ten days ago in seas about 93 miles from the city. Mehmood Khan, the owner of a local fishery, said the shark was unconscious at that time and other reports said that it was found dead Tuesday.

A large crowd gathered as a succession of cranes were brought in to lift the shark on to the pier. After several hours and a number of failed attempts, the leviathan was finally brought ashore and promptly sold for $18,750.

The whale shark was added to the World Conservation Union’s list of threatened species in 2008.

FLYING SHARK

Frank Lake — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:03:32 +0000

NEW ZEALAND - An airline pilot was stunned to see a flying shark out his cockpit window!

The pilot of a an Air New Zealand flight, was on his descent to Christchurch International Airport on Boxing Day when he radioed ground control with an unlikely sighting – a shark flying at several thousand feet.

The fish out of water was identified great white – which was estimated to be 30 feet in weight and weighted approximately 5,000 pounds. The pilot saw the shark five times as it approached the airport. “It seemed to be circling us, waiting to attack or something,” said Captain Michael Stubben of Air New Zealand Flight #79.

A spokeswoman for Christchurch air traffic control, Monica Maron, said a pilot had reported the shark and its location about nine miles from the airport at 2pm on December 26.

“We advised subsequent traffic of its location, and the other pilots adjusted their routes.”

It was not yet known whether the sighting would be formally logged as an air-safety incident, she said.

The shark’s altitude and how close it came to the plane were unclear, Davis said.

The Civil Aviation Authority had also received several other reports from small single engine Cessna airplanes in the area.

“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing, the shark was up about 7,000 feet in the air – and it seemed to be flying. We almost lost control of o ur plane, we were so shocked to see it,” said Todd Gimley of Christchurch Flying School.

New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association president Greg Kendall said the flying shark does not pose an immediate risk to planes, unless of course it got into an aircraft engine.

“Flying sharks could get sucked into the engines of passenger jets and that could do major damage to a plane and cause it to crash. We are advising pilots on the proper protocol if they see a flying shark,” said Gimley.

“The engine probably wouldn’t stop, but it would do a great deal of damage,” he said.

A naval ship of the coast of New Zealand also spotted the flying shark.

There have been no other sightings of flying sharks outside of New Zealand. Authorities and marine biologists are looking into the situation. “This could be some rare mutation. It is quite alarming,” said Cindy Loudon, a top Marine Biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia.

FLYING SHARK!

Tap Vann — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 05:03:23 +0000

TEXAS – Three fishermen were stunned when a huge shark landed in the back of their boat in the Gulf of Mexico.

Jason Kresse, 29, from Texas, and two crew members were fishing for red snapper about 50 miles out to sea in the early hours of Monday morning.

They were throwing fish guts over the side when they heard two big splashes and “all of a sudden something hit the side of the boat”.

It was an 8ft-long mako shark which, in a rush to start feeding, “ended up landing on the back of the boat”, according to Sky News.

The shark died several hours later. The crew didn’t have a permit to catch sharks, so Kresse contacted federal officials on shore.

Mike Cox, a spokesman with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said that no violations were incurred because the shark’s death was an accident.

The shark is currently on display at a seafood business in Freeport.

GOBLIN SHARK

Tap Vann — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:33:30 +0000

JAPAN – The Goblin Shark is terrorizing citizens of Japan, having killed over thirty people this week.

The Goblin Shark is only hundred years old and was first captured by Japanese fishermen off the coast of Yokhama.

The goblin shark is an upper-level carnivore in its natural habitat. This is a rare beast, only found in few places, usually deep beyond 300 meters. Those places are Japan, South Africa, perhaps off Portugal, and, in one strange instance, in the Indian Ocean, a cable malfunction necessitated the raising of the cable, and an awl-like shark’s tooth was found embedded in the wire covering. The cable had been at 750 fathoms, and the tooth belonged to a goblin shark.

As they stay near the sea bottom, they are usually caught via deep bottom-set gillnets and sea-bottom long line fishing. They are also sometimes caught by trawling. In addition, they are sometimes found entangled by deep-sea fishing lines.

But in the last week, the Goblin Shark has been surfacing and has attacked dozens of citizens, causing great concern in Japan.

Recently, a Goblin Shark was captured near Sao Paulo and analyzed by researchers Gadig Otto, UNESP São Vicente, and Teodoro Vaske Jr. of UNISANTA Santos. They thought the shark was dead, but in the boat it bit off the legs of Otto and Vaske, Jr.

The mouth stretches out and the teeth are sharp, they capture prey from the bottom of the sea. It is unclear exactly how long snout is, but probably it offers a larger surface for its sensory organs, which enables it to detect the tiny electrical fields generated by their prey. The liver accounts for about ¼ of the total weight and has the same function as in other sharks: working as a swim bladder, allowing it to rise or fall in the water column without major problems.

It reaches more than 6 feet long and feeds mainly on octopus, crabs and fish.

Beware the Goblin Shark!

BASKING SHARK WASHES ASHORE

Gerry Dorsey — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:22:32 +0000

NEW YORK, NY – A 2,000 pound basking shark washed ashore on a Long Island beach yesterday!

The rare appearance of a beached basking shark shocked Long Island residents. But despite its 20-foot length and ton of mass, humans have nothing to fear. The basking shark primarily feeds off of plankton, which it catches in its gaping mouth.

The shark was alive when it washed ashore at Gilgo State Park, but died shortly after. Officials were unsure how the shark died, but a necropsy will be performed on it today. It will then be buried in the sand.

Take a look at video footage of the beached shark, shot from a helicopter:

COOPER COURTED BY SHARK

Samuel T. Westbrook — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:00:00 +0000

ATLANTA, GA – Following a trip to Australia where Anderson Cooper taped a shark special, he was treated to a surprise guest in the studio.

Cooper traveled to the coast of Australia to investigate the tourism destination increasingly popular for boat trips that offer the opportunity to swim with sharks without the aid of cages.

Argued to be both educational and entertaining, the pastime has been under critical review for many years.

What Cooper expected to be a routine trip turned out to be much more when one of the sharks, a seven-year old female named Lorna, became infatuated with the silver-haired bachelor.

“Lorna is usually one of the less friendly sharks out there,” Captain Argul Sherman of the Swim With Sharks Boat Tour told reporters. “We were surprised at how playful she became after Anderson went for his swim. She kept swimming along side the boat, continually turning over to show her underside, a common mating practice in dolphins but rarely seen in sharks.”

Cooper, who planned to leave the smitten shark in Australia, never expected to see Lorna on the set of Anderson Cooper 360, especially not with a bouquet of flowers.

“The whole thing was very flattering,” Cooper said with a blush on CNN’s Morning Show. “During a commercial break I took Lorna aside and told her that she is very sweet and I enjoyed swimming with her.”

“I thanked her for the flowers but said that I didn’t see a future for us. I’m not looking for a relationship at the moment, and to be honest, she just isn’t my type.”

When asked what his type is, he tactfully dodged the question while slowly turning over a portrait of a very lovely wildebeest.