Subscriber Comments for
Jaws Lives

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 338467P	2012-11-02 01:04 PM
Interesting how the bites are all in the same place on the boards. Is this where the surfers hang their legs? /not a surfer.
COMMENT 338468	2012-11-02 01:04 PM
no, the shark that bit the top pictured board is not the same shark that bit the board in the bottom two photos.
COMMENT 338470	2012-11-02 01:08 PM
there really isn't anything to look into OP. The ocean is full of sharks that have to eat. That's all it is.
COMMENT 338471	2012-11-02 01:09 PM
THe bites are pretty much where your torso and abdomen would be. Interesting as you'd think sharks would attack from the back, but no. You'd also think they'd hit a seal (if they thought it was one) from below). No on that two. Instead the bites are a side attack like they knew the good part was accessible from that side (assuming they can't breach and attack from the top). I find that interesting given the theories of shark confusion. Doesn't seem that confused to me.
COMMENT 338472	2012-11-02 01:10 PM
Photoshop.
COMMENT 338473	2012-11-02 01:10 PM
What's to look into? There's lots of critters out there. Be careful.
COMMENT 338476	2012-11-02 01:18 PM
UCLAFanatic: I noticed that too. It seems attacking from below would be tough in our fairly shallow water (not enough speed), and attacking from the rear would potentially lead to a lost meal. Seals/sea lions could escape and survive losing all or part of an appendage, but a direct bite on the gut ensures you have a solid grasp on the prey. Especially if the prey isn't moving (like that of a surfer laying on a board).
COMMENT 338478	2012-11-02 01:27 PM
"Science"
COMMENT 338482	2012-11-02 01:34 PM
They come in from the left and in the middle.
QUAD-LIX	2012-11-02 01:34 PM
It's the fattest part of the board-- they're probably going for flavor (fat) and when they taste nothing but foam and bones they spit it out. At first look I thought they all were attacked from the left, but the second board is flipped over.
QUAD-LIX	2012-11-02 01:36 PM
Oh wait, I guess it's still the left on the board that's flipped over . Duh. Maybe the left is most surfers' weaker side?
COMMENT 338490	2012-11-02 01:39 PM
It's like you people haven't ever seen Shark Week, read a book about white shark behavior, or have the ability to apply basic common sense. There is something called an exploratory bite. Sharks don't have hands, they have a mouth. They bite down on an unknown object to explore it's value as food. Nice and soft (seal, etc...) complete the bite wait for bleed out, return for meal. Hard and bony (people, boards, etc...) release without full bite and abandon meal. If they did full breach attacks on everything, they risk injury and unnecessary struggles. It's not their fault we bleed out and die, they were just looking for some food.
COMMENT 338491	2012-11-02 01:39 PM
They did actually all happen on the left. the one in the middle is showing the deck and the nose is where the tail of the other two boards are. I wonder where a seals heart is located?
COMMENT 338492	2012-11-02 01:41 PM
Maybe we could get a police sketch artist in on this - you know, get a composite out there and bring this shark to justice. Any video out there?
COMMENT 338502	2012-11-02 02:17 PM
experts think there are only about 350 great whites on the west coast. The more folks that go into the water, the greater chance someone will get hit. I have dove with sharks, some that were quite dangerous and they had no interst in me as a meal. Seals have teeth and claws, so sharks hit them hard, take a bite and wait for them to bleed out - we don't taste right, so they rarely come back to finsh the job, but they are good at what they do, espcially when we are the slowest seal in the pack.
COMMENT 338470	2012-11-02 02:39 PM
there are only TWO boards.
COMMENT 338531	2012-11-02 03:35 PM
Sharks use sonar and the widest part of the board/body would give the highest sonar profile. My guess is the sharks just go for the largest part because that increases the chance of getting something via sonar. An old rusty pipe wrench won't show up on sonar but an old rusty ship will. Sort of like, I said sort of, the cops aiming for the torso, and people say why can't they aim for the legs or something. Because they might not hit anything, target too small or too fast of motion. Sharks catching prey is 3-D in motion in real time. Same idea. OK the cop analogy is lame but I couldn't think of another right now.
STRAY	2012-11-02 03:37 PM
The ocean IS the final frontier on planet Earth. Unlike land bound mammals, like the grizzly bear, which we made extinct in California, there is nothing man can do to dissipate the threat by creatures at the top of the ocean's food chain. The great white shark and orca whales are king. We have to admire creatures that aren't afraid of man and dominate their elements, as we have on land.
COMMENT 338538	2012-11-02 03:42 PM
Just found out today that i know the guy that was attacked in humbolt. met him in Australia on a surf trip. Super nice guy and hoping he gets a fast recovery! Scary stuff, but still won't keep me out of the water.
COMMENT 338539	2012-11-02 03:47 PM
531 - sharks actually rely mostly on the electrical impulses given off by all creatures in the water - fish, seal and unfortunately, human. They are attracted by any splashing or movement in the water. Once they hone in on the source, they see a surfer in a wetsuit with arms and legs dangling in the water much like a seal floating on the surface.
COMMENT 338541	2012-11-02 03:50 PM
OP are you coming at this with the notion that they track down bears, tigers and elephants who go rogue and attack humans so why aren't they going after great white sharks? I'll give you one reason.... all great white sharks are rogue and don't fear man in the water. On land we can decimate any species that attempts to threaten us but in the water... well, we just don't belong there. 8531... you're confusing sharks with dolphins and whales. Not sonar but smell and poor eye sight.
COMMENT 338543	2012-11-02 03:56 PM
Why are some people so surprised when humans get attacked by sharks, bears, mountain lions. When you are in the wild there is always a possibility of coming across one of these amazing animals. Unfortunately sometimes people are the victim.
COMMENT 338531	2012-11-02 04:02 PM
8531 here- I stand corrected. The smell gets the shark to within a few feet of a potential prey and then electronavigation takes over in the last few feet to the target. The smell sensors use about two thirds of a sharks brain. Unlike my brain which has no useful function today. Sorry for the misinfo. Crawling back into spider hole...now.
COMMENT 338556	2012-11-02 04:31 PM
I think if most of us bit into a piece of foam we'd leave a similarly sized bite to each other, and I think that's the case here. My surfer's-but-unprofessional opinion for the OP's question is that this is definitely not a case of the same shark. That would be incredibly hard to believe. They don't stay in the same place long, they migrate and to migrate up and back rather than on their path, on different dates is the biggest clue that this isn't the same animal. People need to realize that they are ALWAYS out there. Great whites and small salmon sharks alike. The GWs that are being spotted off the pier in SB and also between us and the islands in the channel have always been here and the ones that we spot are usually too small to have either the appetite or the jaw power yet for sea lion predatory moves, so they aren't even a threat to us with the mistaken identity that happens to surfers and swimmers until they get to adulthood.
COMMENT 338594	2012-11-02 05:50 PM
An adult female harbor seal was attacked and killed by a Great White shark off Carpinteria either late Thursday or early yesterday morning. This determination was made from an examination of the wounds on the seal by Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center volunteers.
COMMENT 338596P	2012-11-02 06:01 PM
594: That's interesting! Don't the Great Whites eat the seals they attack - or was it scared off?
COMMENT 338636P	2012-11-03 01:20 AM
@543: I like what you wrote. Humans are always surprised to learn that homo sapiens is not the top predator. I always think back to what one guy said, when interviewed about bear attacks. He was talking about the fact that so many humans are kind of challenged when it comes to understanding how things work in certain environments. He said, "That's why they call it Wild---erness!" Yeah. It's still wild out there, and it's wild when people discover they are lower down on the food chain--------- and S-L-O-W and helpless.
COMMENT 338643	2012-11-03 07:03 AM
For the conspiracy theorists: why do seals wash up with bites similar in size to those in the surfboards? Yewd think they'd eat more thAn one byte of one of their major food sources after such a disabling blow. My theory is that the stench from the copious amounts of hair products used by certain surfers and surffettes keep the critters away. Sometimes I gag when one passes upwind. It's really something to smell and I imagine the few ppms that enter the water can be sensed far and wide.
COMMENT 338665	2012-11-03 08:55 AM
Where the shark bites, hmmm It bites! Sharks don't theorize but I did read the other day that there is a much larger population of squid on our coast and the sharks are always hungry. They bite fast to get what they see.
MADMAX	2012-11-03 09:12 AM
I eat fish....I surf......If I get eaten by a fish, I consider it an honor.
COMMENT 338727	2012-11-03 11:29 AM
The most recent attack a day or two ago off of Carpinteria on an adult sea lion, WAS from below! Efforts to "save the sea lions" by our cadre of local conservationists is a big attraction for sharks. It is like chumming the waters off shore. Where there are lots of shark "food" there will be lots of sharks.
COMMENT 338556	2012-11-03 12:20 PM
727, sorry but you're wrong. I've lived and surfed in Carpinteria my whole life and I can tell you that I've seen a LOT of large, adult great whites in our area for decades. The seal population isn't taking a greater hit than it normal would have done before the rookery. If you have statistical evidence, than show it. You won't find any that isn't biased or flawed and continuing to perpetuate this idea that sharks are somehow new or more attracted to our area in greater numbers is not only wrong but irresponsible. We also have to remember that this is shark "season" and it will last into the early new year. There are always more sea lion and human attacks between October and February in our area than any other time of the year. Please don't get caught up in the drama or misinformation.
COMMENT 339183	2012-11-05 06:51 AM
I agree with 556. Also, why so many sharks at Surf Beach?. No seal rookery there.
COMMENT 339876	2012-11-06 02:34 PM
If we are swimming in the water, not our natural environment, we are not the apex predators. If we are in a boat with all of our tools, we regain top spot and have the ability to decimate the shark population if we want. Catching sharks and cutting off their fins, and dumping them back in the water to die, is just one example of our dominance. But really, you are in much greater danger driving to rincon in your SUV than you are paddling around in the water- unless that drop-in guy is also out there.
COMMENT 338556	2012-11-06 02:37 PM
876, ah a voice of reason! Unfortunately more people think we should kill them than be reasonable. :(

20% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

EDHAT COMMENTS POLICY