Sharks
Shark Week! 10 Deadliest Sharks
One of my favorite times of the year is when the Shark Week series airs on The Discovery Channel. Having always wanted to go into Shark Biology/Ecology, this show lets me dream of what might have been. The first show I watched was the 10 Deadliest Sharks and I was a bit surprised at some of those that made the list. Given that there are less than 5 sharks that are really considered ‘man eaters’, the 5 others are just added to back-fill the list. From least aggressive to most aggressive, here are the 2009 Shark Weeks 10 Deadliest Sharks.
10 Deadliest Sharks:
10. Lemon Shark (Negaprion brevirostris)
9. Blue Shark (Prionace glauca)
8. Great Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna mokarran)
7. Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus)
6. Grey Reef Shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos)
5. Shortfin Mako (Isurus oxyrinchus)
4. Ocean White Tip (Carcharhinus longimanus)
3. Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)
2. Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
1. Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas)
Admittedly, I missed the first part of the show when these less notorious sharks were explored and explained, but having swam with Grey Reef sharks several times, they really are pretty docile. Just like any other animal, when threatened, a flight-or-fight response kicks in, and in the case of a big fish with teeth- you could get hurt.
Grey Reef sharks are fairly unique in that they will openly display when they are uneasy and feel threatened with an arched back and quick darting movements. You don’t have to be a shark biologist to understand what is going on, as the behavior itself looks sketchy.
It was no surprise to me that the Bull Shark ended up on top again this year as they have actually attacked while being filmed for the Shark Week series. Large, powerful and found even in rivers including the Ganges in India, the Amazon in South America, the Zambezi in Africa and the Mississippi in the US. They were even found in Lake Ponchartrain after Hurricane Katrina.
Sharkwater Movie Review
Awhile back I was all excited about an independent documentary coming out presenting the true face of sharks and their precarious future. Luckily it was screening in Seattle, so I was able to catch it in its full movie screen glory. I checked Netflix a few days ago and noticed that it is out and available on DVD and even Blu-Ray (it was filmed all in HD, so the Blu-Ray is defiantly worth it).
Sharkwater is an epic visual journey into the oceans exposing the beauty and the peril of sharks worldwide. Rob Stewart’s aim was to create an anti-Jaws, in other words, an attempt to dispel the myths and urban legends associated with sharks (an odd little side note is the extreme regret by Peter Benchley, the creator of ‘Jaws’, for having caused an almost hysteria driven hunt and destruction of sharks everywhere leading him to be an outspoken shark conservation advocate).
- Genre: Documentary
- Running time: 89 min.
- Director: Rob Stewart
- Studio: Alliance Films
- Producer: Rob Stewart
- Cast: Rob Stewart, Paul Watson, Dr. Erich Ritter, Susan Backlinie, Godfrey Merlin, Mark Butler, Dr. Boris Worm, William Goh, Vic Hislop, Dr. Samuel Gruber, Rex Weyler, Carlos Perez Cembrero, Patrick Moore, Lisa Anastario, Larissa Gilligan
I found the movie to be visually stunning, with several long cuts of gorgeous underwater vistas, schooling hammerheads and more. The cinematography is very well done and is not unlike those you would see in the BBC’s Planet Earth with life-like sharpness and amazing colors so you feel as if you are immersed underwater. The main focus of this movie centers around the barbaric practice of shark ‘finning’. Near and dear to my heart, it is the practice that, thankfully, is gaining some recognition (probably in part due to this movie).
The ‘plot’ is interesting, and includes some time on the Sea Shepard Society’s boat with Captain and ‘Rouge’ Conservationist Paul Watson (who now have their own show on Discovery called ‘Whale Wars‘), but seems a bit choppy at times. There is a bout with ‘flesh eating bacteria’ and a run in with corrupt officials and organized crime syndicates, both which failed to captivate me in their intended way.
Moving away from the traditional documentary genre, the well intended storyline follows much like a generic Hollywood movie with the integration of a ‘sexy protagonist’, an seemingly insurmountable obstacle to overcome with action scenes and mounting suspense. Problem being the ‘sexiness’ verged on vanity, the action scenes appeared exaggerated, and the suspense was contrived. I believe the film would have been much more enjoyable if it would have allowed for the natural suspense of the situations to carry through giving it a more real, raw, and un-masked feel. It’s as though the movie was formed to fit the Hollywood framework rather than allowing the message, the destruction, and the journey to tell the story.
That being said, the overall message is not lost and cannot be ignored. Winning countless awards and film festivals from around the world and rating a very impressive 8.0 on IMDB and 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, it still remains one of the most beautiful, entertaining, and greatest shark movie I have ever seen. Well worth the rental or purchase price and great for the whole family. It simply must not be missed. I plan on including this film in my Blu-Ray library, and it will sit right between BBC’s Planet Earth and Discovery Channels Shark Week series.
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