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Nature of the Unknown
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I could have greeted my dear Pacific with uncounted thanks, for now the long supplication of my youth was answered; that serene ocean rolled eastwards from me a thousands leagues of blue.

-Moby Dick, Herman Melville

The Pacific Ocean was warm that Friday morning; the temperature had risen above 60 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time all year. The swimmers welcomed the warm water on their cold muscles and headed out into the sea. The fastest swimmers began to pull ahead of the slower ones, but soon they all regrouped about 200 yards from the shoreline. Then the swimmers started their routine loop; a path starting at Fletcher Cove, then due north about a half mile up the coast to the stone steps at Tide Park, and back down to Fletcher Cove. As the swimmers resumed their swim, the faster triathletes again pulled ahead: Ken Flagg and Alan Silverman, and Anita Flagg, who kept up with the two men, the strongest swimmers in the group, by using flippers. Everyone began to spread out. David Martin and Laurene Booth swam side by side about thirty yards behind the pack leaders; David was to the left of Laurene and she was able to catch glimpses of David’s broad-shouldered physique every time she took a breath. Diana Noble, an Ironman triathlete, was just behind David and Laurene, probably about thirty to forty yards back, and the rest of the swimmers followed Diana. About twenty minutes had passed and the sun had begun to brighten the sky. The swimmers stretched out along a hundred yards of ocean, each swimmer following another, their silhouettes casting shadows on the sea floor.

This was a fish built to feed on all the fishes in the sea, that were so fast and strong and well armed that they had no other enemy. Now he speeded up as he smelled the fresher scent and his blue dorsal fin cut the water.

-The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway

Here’s what we think happened:*

The shark swam along the ocean floor about 200 yards out from the coast of Tide Park Beach. Its massive tail swayed and its symmetrical caudal fin propelled its massive, two-ton body effortlessly through the water. At the water’s surface, a pack of animals, potential prey, were swimming in small groups. With light coming from above, the dark gray coat of the shark acted as camouflage against the ocean floor. If the animals had been below the shark, its white underbelly would have served as camouflage against the bright sunlight of the surface. The shark sensed each continuing movement the animals made thanks to the small glands on the shark’s snout. These glands are known as the ampullae of Lorenzini, and they detect the minute electrical signals given off by muscle movements. Also, every splash made by the animals’ limbs caused vibrations in the water, which the shark could feel due to highly sensitive, mucus-filled canals on the surface of its skin known as the lateral line. The shark looked up at the animals, seeing only large black silhouettes with its large black eyes. One fairly large animal was slightly separated from the group. The end of the animal was dangling slightly in the water; the shark identified this as a possible injury. The shark instinctively knew the time to attack was now.

Oxygen-rich blood from its gills was fed over the swimming muscles of the shark, warming them, giving the shark high responsiveness even in the cold water. The caudal fin was then shaken vigorously by the gigantic tail, adding immense speed to the shark’s trajectory with each powerful stroke. The shark lifted its snout, guiding its body up towards its prey’s dangling legs. It opened its mouth, exposing rows of large, serrated teeth and extended its jaws outward to maximize its bite force. The shark had come up so fast that its body rocketed up out of the water as it engulfed the animal’s lower half. Flying through the air, the shark’s jaws smashed down on the animal with devastating force. As the shark shook its head from side to side, its serrated teeth sliced into mostly bone. Falling back into the water, the shark took another bite. Its teeth scraped down the gangly bottom half of the animal. The prey was then released. Not fatty enough for the shark. Or perhaps it was put off its feed by movement from others in the animal’s pack. As the other animals began to swarm around the injured pack-mate, the shark sank back into the bloodied waters.

* Information for this portion of the story was gathered from an interview with Dr. Richard Rosenblatt of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego, and a journal entry by swimmer Ken Flagg from April 26, 2008


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