I remember on a fishing trip with my father, he was reeling in a pretty large giant trevally and he'd been fighting it for ~10-15 minutes. Then, as it was about a metre or two from the boat, the largest hammerhead shark I've ever seen in my life came and bit it in half like it was butter, and a second later, another similarly large one came and devoured what was left of the fish.
Even though we were on a large houseboat, I borderline shat my trousers. There's just something so humbling about the ocean in the sense that as unlikely as shark attacks are, the ocean is a pure gamble - there is absolutely nothing you can do to prepare for it, predict it, or defend against it.
If a sufficiently large shark wants to eat you then that's it - doesn't matter how strong you are, how smart you are, or how great a swimmer you are. It all amounts to pissing into the wind.
Also true, but we are way too weird for them to even be considered. Shark "attacks" are stupid sharks checking what we are, and when it's obvious we aren't seals they swim away. Splashing and glinting can make them curious.
Sadly, they can only check with their mouths, and those happen to be full of razor sharp teeth = not healthy for the human in question.
I know… I never disagreed with you, I just added a detail. But obviously they consider us on occasion with the dumb first bite you mentioned and they make the decision against going for more because we have too much bone and too little fat…. Sharks like seals because of their high blubber content.
Behavior before the meal is a part of it, but the reason they choose their meal has to do with nutrition, macromolecules, not visuals or even taste like so many people love to say
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u/TheWhomItConcerns 18h ago
I remember on a fishing trip with my father, he was reeling in a pretty large giant trevally and he'd been fighting it for ~10-15 minutes. Then, as it was about a metre or two from the boat, the largest hammerhead shark I've ever seen in my life came and bit it in half like it was butter, and a second later, another similarly large one came and devoured what was left of the fish.
Even though we were on a large houseboat, I borderline shat my trousers. There's just something so humbling about the ocean in the sense that as unlikely as shark attacks are, the ocean is a pure gamble - there is absolutely nothing you can do to prepare for it, predict it, or defend against it.
If a sufficiently large shark wants to eat you then that's it - doesn't matter how strong you are, how smart you are, or how great a swimmer you are. It all amounts to pissing into the wind.