Carcharias [Was Re: Oviraptorids as Parrots?}

[Colin McHenry <cmchenry@westserv.net.au>]

dannj@alphalink.com.au wrote:

> On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 19:48:01 -0600, Tim Williams wrote
>  
>
> > A shark species commonly known as the 'sand tiger' (_Carcharias 
> > taurus_) has slender teeth, very much unlike the broad teeth of the 
> > tiger shark 
> > (_Galeocerdo cuvier_).
> >    
>
> We call them 'grey nurse' sharks here in Oz. Being mostly fish eaters, they 
> have mouths full of long slender teeth that are good for catching fish, but 
> extremely inefficient at penetrating testudinate shells. :)
>
>  
>
> > Sand tigers are one of the most docile of shark species...
> >    
>
> I'd have thought so too - except that 'sand tigers' are apparently in the top 
> ten species of sharks as far as attacks on humans go (there've even been a 
> surprising number of fatalities). 
The placement of sand tigers/ grey nurses/ ragged tooths in the top ten 
list of  'maneaters' may be a little dated.   Every recent piece of info 
I've found on them stresses their inoffensive nature as far as humans 
goes.  I read once that many attacks previously blamed on _Carcharias 
taurus_ are now thought to have been the responsibility of large 
carcharhinids such as the bull shark (_Carcharhinus leucus_) and the 
bronze shark (_Carcharhinus brachyurus_), or even Great Whites.  Correct 
me if I'm wrong, but there do not seem to be any confirmed reports of  
attacks by grey nurse sharks on humans in the wild.  They are certainly 
popular as a large shark for aquaria...

> Perhaps because of their generally assumed 
> docile nature, divers may be more willing to get closer to these sharks than 
> most. I believe that nearly all attacks on humans are the result of (real or 
> perceived) self defence, rather than deliberate predation.
>  
..or alternatively, the bad reputation is a hangover from days when its 
'offensive' nature was presumed from its (admittedly impressive) 
appearance: http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI1_00e/ctaurus.html

> Um.... dinosaurs...? :)
Well, there are _Carcharias_ teeth in the Cretaceous of Queensland.  
Funny to think that a very similar animal to something that lived 
alongside plesiosaurs is still swimming around off the beach where I 
swim every day...

> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Dann Pigdon
> GIS / Archaeologist         http://heretichides.soffiles.com
> Melbourne, Australia        http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
>
>  

--
*****************
Colin McHenry
School of Environmental and Life Sciences (Geology)
University of Newcastle
Callaghan NSW 2308
Australia
Tel: +61 2 4921 5404
Fax: + 61 2 4921 6925

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