The Dorsal Fin

According to NECN, a basking shark, which was first spotted swimming not far from shore on August 19, was later found washed ashore on White Horse Beach in Plymouth, MA.

The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), a filter-feeder, is generally considered harmless to humans.

A video game based on the popular Steven Spielberg horror film “Jaws” is now available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. While the trailer for the game might make some shark conservationists cringe with its “mindless eating machine” mentality, others might argue that it’s a harmless video game. “Jaws” the game certainly isn’t doing anything to dispel many of the largely unwarranted fears about sharks, but as a video game based on a fictitious horror movie, I have to wonder if anybody would really expect anything different.

If the game were billed as an educational app about sharks, I would certainly have no trouble crying foul. However, “Jaws” is a horror movie about a 25′ rogue great white shark who hunts down humans mercilessly. When you see the name “Jaws” attached to a video game, you pretty much know what you’re getting into.

“Jaws” (the film and its video game incarnations) catches a lot of flak for creating the mindset that sharks are mindless killers, but is the movie itself really the problem? For whatever reason, “Jaws” is simply very effective at scaring people, and the fear associated with the movie gets carried over into the real-world for many people. I would argue that the the inability to discern reality from fiction is far more to blame for misconceptions about sharks than a movie or a video game.

YouTube user opimoby (videographer Ross Isaacs) posted the video above featuring a children’s song titled “I’m a Shark.” The video is an excerpt from “Bubbles – On the Reef,” an educational children’s video intended to introduce children to ocean life. The video, shot in high definition, follows Bubbles the shrimp on an adventure through Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The video information for “I’m a Shark” touches on issues such as shark finning and the theory that shark attacks on humans are the result of mistaken identity. All-in-all it seems that “Bubbles – On the Reef” sends a pro-ocean message to children, based on the excerpts and video information available. For more info about the video, visit Ocean Planet Images.

While the “I’m a Shark” tune isn’t quite as catchy to me as The Great White Shark Song, it seems like it’s sending a pro-shark educational message to a younger audience, which hopefully will counteract some of the more negative stereotypes associated with sharks in the media.

The Associated Press recently released the above video feature about a campaign to curb shark fin soup consumption in Hong Kong. The grass-roots movement hopes to have the controversial delicacy removed from restaurant menus. Shark fin soup has come under fire due to the acquisition of shark fins through shark finning, in which live sharks have their fins cut off and are then thrown back in the water to drown.

Shark fin soup is believed by some to have multiple health benefits including increased energy, heart disease prevention, improved skin quality, and increased sexual potency. However, there is no evidence to support any of these purported benefits.

A video of a finned whale shark filmed in the Philippines by Chung Shan Shan, a Hong Kong biology professor, has helped to fuel the movement against shark fin soup. The campaign seems to be supported primarily by the younger generation, some of whom, have decided to go against tradition and serve alternatives to shark fin soup at their own wedding banquets.

For more information, check out the full AP report.

WRBL 3 News is reporting that according to un-confirmed reports a Columbus, Georgia fisherman and a runner spotted a shark fin in the Chattahoochee River. According to the story, the fisherman broke his line while fishing and when the runner came to assist him, they both saw the shark fin, causing some to theorize that a bull shark may be in the river.

Bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) can tolerate freshwater and have been known to swim far up rivers, but the sighting of a bull shark near Columbus in the Chattahoochee would certainly be an extremely unusual spectacle. At the time of this writing, a non-scientific online poll by WRBL 3 News indicated that of those polled, 53% believed that the story of the Chattahoochee bull shark could be true.