Sharks In A Feeding Frenzy

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Sharks In A Feeding Frenzy Game

Aug 26, 2018 But before you get to the sandy bottom of the dive siteyou first must dive right through a lemon shark feeding frenzy! Oh yeah, and if that wasn’t crazy enough, this also happens to be teams.

Some scientists have observed feeding frenzies occurring naturally, particularly in shallow waters where seabirds, seals and sea lions congregate. However, they don't appear to be a common natural occurrence. Rather, it's more likely that feeding frenzies are rare events caused by a 'supernormal stimulus,' such as a high amount of stress in the water [source: Parker].

Studies have shown that sharks can sense distressed prey; they respond to scents emitted by injured fish, and they can hear the sounds of a wounded person thrashing around in the water [source: Shark Trust]. Given the choice between healthy and injured prey, the shark will always pick the injured prey because it will take less energy to catch it. But things get crazy when more than one shark shows up to take advantage of the prey's misfortune.

Shark Feeding Frenzy Captured on Camera in South Carolina: 'There Were so Many of Them'. Beachgoers in South Carolina got the surprise of a lifetime when they saw a group of sharks in a.
Aug 07, 2019 This is the incredible moment a group of sharks leaped out of the water while chasing a shoal of fish in a mad feeding frenzy. Tara Savedge filmed the.

It's important to note that many species retain a sense of order within a frenzy. The Caribbean reef shark, for example, still maintains a quasi pecking order during a feeding frenzy [source: Dehart]. The whitetip reef shark also behaves in a (somewhat) orderly fashion during what looks to be a chaotic bloodbath. If this buffet entices multiple sharks, sometimes they'll inadvertently bite each other [source: Dehart].

Many feeding frenzies start near fishing boats, particularly when fishermen pull in a net of fish. These fish are thrashing against the net and perhaps have been injured in their capture, and the chemicals they give off attract the sharks. Sharks become aroused by the scent of blood and think they've happened upon an easy meal, but when more than one shark shows up, the scene gets competitive.

In the case of a shipwreck, sharks may be attracted to the panicking humans who are splashing around in the water. At the time of World Wars I and II, the oceanic whitetip shark was believed to have had many a feeding frenzy when boats were torpedoed and planes were shot down. This deep-water dwelling shark was often first on the scene of maritime disasters, such as the World War II sinking of the Nova Scotia steamship. Of the 1,000 men aboard, only 192 survived, with many fatalities ascribed to whitetip feeding frenzies [source: Bester].

Humans aren't normally on the shark's menu. Shark attacks on humans might actually just be an error or an experimental bite to determine how they'd taste. But one practice that is increasingly causing feeding frenzies may lead sharks to associate humans with food even more. Shark feeding dives, an activity in which a group of caged divers descends to the deeps to get up close and personal with sharks, have become a huge draw in some parts of the world. To attract the sharks, diving companies use chum, or a mixture of blood and dead fish bits. Now, frenzies are seen most often when sharks are fed with artificial bait [source: Parker].

In 1975, the U.S. National Park Service warned people not to feed wild animals in national parks and refuges because giving supplemental food to these animals changes their feeding habits and behaviors. If sharks start to link humans with this food, they might seek out humans who have no food to give them. Several injuries have already occurred to swimmers who were in sites previously used by divers [source: Alevizon]. In addition, many feel that artificial feeding defeats the purpose of trying to see these creatures in their natural state.

Whether the attraction is to frantic prey or a frothy mix of blood and guts, the intense stress emitted by these items seems to cause the sharks to freak out and enter the frenzied state. The more sharks attracted to the scene, the more distressed the scene becomes, as the splashing increases. Scientists don't know yet how much of a feeding frenzy is actually about eating and how much of it is about establishing dominance in some ordered way that looks like chaos to us. Regardless, frenzies are one more thing that makes sharks both fearsome and fascinating.

More Great Links

Sources

Alevizon, William. 'The Florida Fish-Feeding Frenzy: Background, Issues, and a Wake-Up Call.' Cyber Diver News Network. (May 11, 2008)http://www.cdnn.info/news/editorial/o020112a.html
Allen, Thomas B. 'Shark Protection: Why Do Sharks Attack?' Gorp. (May 12, 2008)http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/lyonspress/shark_attacks.htm
Auerbach, Paul S. 'Shark Attacks.' Newsletter of the International Society of Travel Medicine. March-April 2002. (May 12, 2008)http://www.istm.org/publications/news_share/200203/shark.aspx
Bester, Cathleen. 'Oceanic Whitetip Shark.' Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department. (May 13, 2008)http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/Descript/OceanicWT/OceanicWT.html
Dehart, Andy. Personal Correspondence. July 17, 2008.
Carrier, Jeffrey C. 'Shark.' Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2007. (May 12, 2008)http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761552860/Shark.html
'Feeding frenzy: When sharks attack.' BBC News E-cyclopedia. Jan. 30, 2001. (May 12, 2008)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/1142956.stm
Leniuk, Darryl. 'Front row at a feeding frenzy.' The Globe and Mail. Nov. 12, 2005. (May 12, 2008)http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20051112.SHARK12/TPStory/specialTravel
Martin, R. Aidan. 'Do Sharks Feel Pain?' ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research. (May 12, 2008)http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/topics/s_pain.htm
Parker, Steve and Jane. 'The Encyclopedia of Sharks.' Firefly Books. 2002.
Ritter, Erich K. 'Shark attacks - an ever intriguing puzzle.' Shark Info. (May 12, 2008)http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI2_98e/attacks1.html
Safire, William. 'On Language.' New York Times. Sept. 4, 1988.
'Senses of Sharks.' Shark Trust. 2007. (May 14, 2008)www.sharktrust.org/do_download.asp?did=27360
'Shark.' Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. (May 12, 2008)http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/538851/shark

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) competing for food at the pond of the Royal Palace Agdal of Marrakech in Morocco

Herring gulls and great black-backed gulls in Vestfjord, Norway eating fish remnants after fishers cleaned their catch.

In ecology, a feeding frenzy occurs when predators are overwhelmed by the amount of prey available. For example, a large school of fish can cause nearby sharks, such as the lemon shark, to enter into a feeding frenzy.^[1] This can cause the sharks to go wild, biting anything that moves, including each other or anything else within biting range. Another functional explanation for feeding frenzy is competition amongst predators.^[2] This term is most often used when referring to sharks or piranhas. It has also been used as a term within journalism.^[3]

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References[edit]

^Bright, Michael (2000). The private life of sharks : the truth behind the myth. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN0-8117-2875-7.
^Staddon. Adaptive Behavior and Learning. Foraging and Behavioral Ecology. Retrieved from: http://psychandneuro.duke.edu/uploads/assets/Chapter09.pdfArchived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
^Feeding frenzy:how attack journalism has transformed American politics, Sabato, Larry., Macmillan., 1991