Thalassophobia?
"Fear of being in large bodies of water, fear of the vast emptiness of the sea, of sea waves, and fear of distance from land" - Wikipedia
So dear readers, I have this love and fear relationship between me and this vast area called the ocean. I'm pretty sure I don't have full on Thalassophobia but there's definitely a slight hint of it lingering in me. You see I absolutely love to be in the water, ever since I was a child I'd spend all my times in pools, lakes or the sea if I could. Even so there always were this nagging feeling of unease and occasional moments where my heart would beat a little faster.
Now when I think about it I believe this might be the reason why I find the ocean so intriguing and incredibly fascinating. It's the little adrenaline you get when induced by curiosity and fear which makes you long for more. The fear for me is the darkness and not knowing what's under your feet but most of all it's the indoctrinated fear for (yes you can guess it) sharks.
This fear has only come from media, I've never had a bad encounter with them myself being from Sweden and all. Aside from that I do admire these creatures. And the fact that there're more then 400 species amazes me. However two species have taken my interest a bit more, mainly because it's the two I've heard the most about.
Photo from Pixabay
Known by many, and feared by plenty is (drum roll) the great white! What a terrifyingly beautiful misunderstood creature this is. With it's counter shading colour pattern and the ability to reach speeds of 24 km/h it's one hundred percent made and polished for this other world we call the ocean. The counter shading pattern helps them camouflage themselves from prey. The grey/brown top colour helps them to easier blend in with the darker depths and makes them hard to see from above whilst the white blends in with the sun rays filtering through from the sky seen from below.
But, yes I know there's a hole in this disguise, there's nothing that can prevent these massive creatures that can become up to 6.1 Meter and weigh around 1,905 Kilos to not cast a pretty big shadow. I mean it would make me hide that's for sure. Luckily enough they don't have to rely on only their colour to be a good hunter, as you probably already know they have a sixth sense, the ampullae of Lorenzini which are special sensing organ named electroreceptors. They look like small pores on the surface skin on the shark and in them are a jelly-filled like tube that ends in a little bulb (the ampullae). As the jelly is greatly conductive it can transfer the electric potential from the open pore to the little bulb. Every single one of these pores then come together and trigger the nerves to be activated when there's a difference in the voltage and sends a signal to the sharks brain. This than helps the shark to teleport to it's prey. Of course it's very rare so many people don't know about it...
I had you hooked didn't I? Joke a side, maybe they can't teleport but that they can detect variations of half a billionth of a volt is almost as cool. Only almost though. To put it in perspective, if 2 AA batteries were connected 1,600 kilometres (1000 miles) apart a shark would notice if one ran out. I borrowed this example from "howstuffworks". This makes them a living homing missile for their prey with a deadly accuracy.
Like that wasn't enough they can also let us know what blood type we are, OK maybe not exact blood type but they can distinguish the different blood in different species. I had know idea about this, and I also didn't know the distance they could smell it from is 400-500 yards, here I'm thinking they can smell it from miles away. Still the fact that they know your blood is different to fish makes me think, do they really care about us? Clearly not as tasty as the tuna or seal out there.
Talking about seals, sharks are excellent when it comes to seal hunting. They've adapted to keep their body temperature higher then the water temperature to become more agile even though there are cold blooded animals. Again fascinating. This will come in handy when a very quick and nimble seal passes by, but it won't be enough. So they've figured out where the seal get's it's speed and goes for the tail. This has been seen as well when they hunt sea lions though here they bite of their pectoral fins as it's the way forward for the sea lion. Why would you ever think that these animals are mindless killers? If anything we humans are.
"Great white sharks are decreasing in numbers and are rare due to years of being hunted by man for fins and teeth, and often as a trophy for sport fishing. The white shark is often caught as by catch by commercial fisheries and can also become entangled in meshes that protect beaches." - WWF
The status of the great white is now vulnerable.They might be frightening and they might cause sorrow sometimes but we need to remember that the ocean or the planet is not ours to take. Death is not for us to decide, and that is what makes us human.
But, yes I know there's a hole in this disguise, there's nothing that can prevent these massive creatures that can become up to 6.1 Meter and weigh around 1,905 Kilos to not cast a pretty big shadow. I mean it would make me hide that's for sure. Luckily enough they don't have to rely on only their colour to be a good hunter, as you probably already know they have a sixth sense, the ampullae of Lorenzini which are special sensing organ named electroreceptors. They look like small pores on the surface skin on the shark and in them are a jelly-filled like tube that ends in a little bulb (the ampullae). As the jelly is greatly conductive it can transfer the electric potential from the open pore to the little bulb. Every single one of these pores then come together and trigger the nerves to be activated when there's a difference in the voltage and sends a signal to the sharks brain. This than helps the shark to teleport to it's prey. Of course it's very rare so many people don't know about it...
I had you hooked didn't I? Joke a side, maybe they can't teleport but that they can detect variations of half a billionth of a volt is almost as cool. Only almost though. To put it in perspective, if 2 AA batteries were connected 1,600 kilometres (1000 miles) apart a shark would notice if one ran out. I borrowed this example from "howstuffworks". This makes them a living homing missile for their prey with a deadly accuracy.
Like that wasn't enough they can also let us know what blood type we are, OK maybe not exact blood type but they can distinguish the different blood in different species. I had know idea about this, and I also didn't know the distance they could smell it from is 400-500 yards, here I'm thinking they can smell it from miles away. Still the fact that they know your blood is different to fish makes me think, do they really care about us? Clearly not as tasty as the tuna or seal out there.
Talking about seals, sharks are excellent when it comes to seal hunting. They've adapted to keep their body temperature higher then the water temperature to become more agile even though there are cold blooded animals. Again fascinating. This will come in handy when a very quick and nimble seal passes by, but it won't be enough. So they've figured out where the seal get's it's speed and goes for the tail. This has been seen as well when they hunt sea lions though here they bite of their pectoral fins as it's the way forward for the sea lion. Why would you ever think that these animals are mindless killers? If anything we humans are.
"Great white sharks are decreasing in numbers and are rare due to years of being hunted by man for fins and teeth, and often as a trophy for sport fishing. The white shark is often caught as by catch by commercial fisheries and can also become entangled in meshes that protect beaches." - WWF
The status of the great white is now vulnerable.They might be frightening and they might cause sorrow sometimes but we need to remember that the ocean or the planet is not ours to take. Death is not for us to decide, and that is what makes us human.
To be continued!
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