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"Where?"
"There!"
"What, behind that little shark?"
"It is the shark."
"You got us all worked up!"
"Well, that's no ordinary shark! It's a Great White Shark."
"But it's so small..."
"That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered shark you ever set eyes on!"
"Look, that shark's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer!"
We made an excursion to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and see the Great White Shark that they currently have in captivity. It has only been there a week (and they're expecting to keep it for another month or so). The one they have is still quite young, estimated to be a year old, with a length of 5 feet, 8 inches, and a weight of 104 pounds. Great Whites can grow up to be 20 feet long, and weigh up to 4,000 pounds.
The Great White is largely a victim of bad PR however -- Spielberg and Benchly created the image of it being a man-eater, but in reality, it appears that Great Whites do not enjoy the taste of humans, as the number of human deaths attributed to great whites is quite small -- more dogs kill humans in a year than great whites killing humans over the last 100 years.
The GWS is quite fast, and one can tell when it's coming by the large amount of fish suddenly swimming away anxiously. Even though it's still quite young, it's amazing to view such a magnificent beast. The crowds were bad (as could be expected on a Saturday), and people need to learn how to turn off the flashes on their cameras (the shark apparently doesn't like the flash and will swim away from the glass).
