Life of a Shark

[Lief Erikson]

Day 1: Beginning

The breath of life.

Warmth surrounds me. All is dark and comfortable. I can feel something moving next to me.
It is slightly rough, and I float away from it. All I want is to be left in peace . . .

Day 16: Time of Birth

What is this? Pressure on all sides, and a squirming behind me. Something is also in front of me, pressuring me and squeezing. All of that dark, comfortable void has been compressed into a pushing, squeezing forceful motion. I struggle to get back; back into what I know and where I am truly at home. Comfort is here, but I am being pushed out into the unknown.
What is out there?
Panic courses through my veins and I struggle. For the first time in my life, I see a faint light ahead. A webbed surface is in front of it, and light is filtering slightly through it. There is a dark blue out there, and instinctively I fear it.
I struggle back, but there is something behind me. It is moving, and I feel something slightly nip my tail.
I am shocked and instantly struggle away from it, wriggling and biting. My gums connect with something, but it is solid.
I am squeezed forwards again.
The webbed surface brushes against my nose and I try to back away again. There is no where to back up against, and my tail is nipped again.
A convulsive heave from the forces behind me suddenly thrust me against the webbing. It tears, and my tail falls through. It instantly is wrapped up in shocking cold, and I struggle to no avail to get back inside. Something bumps into me, and I have a fin in my face, batting fiercely at my eyes and nose. Instead of making headway, I am suddenly thrown entirely out.
Everything is cold. Senses flood my veins, things that I had never known or even considered.
Something else is jutted out next to me, and it takes a moment to realize it is my sister. She still has some of the webbing hanging from her dorsal fin, and looks wild and afraid.
I move away from her; she is dangerous right now.
A gigantic shadow covers me, as an enormous shape moves overhead. It is truly gigantic, but somehow I know that it is not threatening.
The enormous white underbelly of the shark passes completely, and the creature moves slowly off, disappearing in the murky water.
My sister is also moving off in a different direction, moving closer to the sandy floor for safety.
I am on my own.


One year later: A strange creature

I swim slowly over the sandy ocean floor, keeping an eye out for either danger or possible prey. There is little enough in this area, and my fast has been for too long. Already my energy reserves are getting rather low. However, recently the amount of seaweed has increased, and the sea floor has been rising steadily. I am probably coming out of the deeper waters now, but it is still plenty deep enough to hide me from unwanted attention. Other sharks are the main threat, especially others of my own species. I have seen only two of them in my life, not counting my sister and mother. I am already beginning to forget them.
Of these other two, only one was big. I had moved to the bottom of the sea floor to avoid it, and it did not realize I was there. I am built for precision movement, and can detect creatures a good way away. How, I do not know. But I learned long ago that splashing or struggling movement leads to prey. This has worked in my advantage several times, and even though I am yet too young to make much use of it, sometimes it leads to a tasty morsel that no other shark has gotten to yet. Once when following such indications, I found a creature that was rather too large for me. Excellent future prey, I know, but it is still too big. It was large, brown, and the scent of its blood told me it was deliciously tasty. If only I was bigger . . .
Hmmm. This is interesting. Ahead of me is a strange creature swimming through the water. It is rather ungainly and not very well built for swimming in the sea. What is it?
I swim in closer for a better view. It is pale, like the sand, but red around the middle. The strange red material flaps out from it as it moves. It has four limbs protruding from it, two on the top and two on the bottom.
Wait . . . it has seen me. It is slightly larger than I, but it still appears to consider me a threat. It is fleeing back towards shallower water. All other food I have eaten were different from this; darker color and delicious tasting.
It is moving a good deal faster than before on the way back, and continually glancing backwards at me.
I follow it a little ways, but soon turn back. It doesn’t matter overly much, and I am never going to eat one of those. Even when I do get big enough.

[Lief Erikson]

6 years later: New prey

Today, I swim in deeper water, still looking, still hunting. This is a constant activity that has framed my life. My life is a continual search for new prey, and I am constantly discovering new things. I have already met several strange, new creatures. I am looking for something new, as all of my old prey are now not so tasty, and much less filling. They are too small now, and I need something new, something bigger.
A new scent attracts me, and I focus on that section of water some distance ahead. I have smelled this scent once before, and heard these sounds as well. It attracts me, driving me towards it at ever increasing speeds.
However, as I approach it I gradually slow down. I learned long ago that charging the prey usually does not bring about a successful end to the hunt. I am an ambusher, as are the rest of my species. Once I am spotted, it will be much harder to get the prey, and probably not worth the effort.
I glide lower, and move in slowly. My flesh reflects the water around me, giving me a extra bonus of camouflage.
I can now nearly see the prey with my eyes, but I do not need them. I move in closer, carefully avoiding making any sound, acting on instinct.
Closer . . . closer . . . now!
Moving forward with a sudden burst of speed, I lunge for the prey. My jaws open wide, and my teeth latch upon the hapless creature. It is dark and brown, and it struggles wildly. I saw an injured one of these long before; the memory floats up as I struggle with the prey. Then I was too small, but now I will accomplish this. It continues to struggle, fighting ferociously.
It makes barking noises and attempts to bite me with its puny teeth. Its flippers are more trouble than anything else, batting onto me and forcing my teeth away. It is strong, but not so strong as I.
I dig deeper, bravely enduring the gnawing teeth and the lashing blows from the flippers. It struggles harder and my teeth tear out of its hide. It struggles frantically away, leaving a large trail of blood.
I move forward again, latching this time onto one of its flippers and digging in ferociously.
It fights again, and barely manages to push me off. I am wearying, and wonder whether all of the energy expended to accomplish this attack is worth it. But I’m in it now. It is too late to turn back. I am tired, but it is more so. I follow it a little ways as it struggles onward. Finally, I attack again. Now it is greatly weakened, and it hardly struggles at all.
However, I had scarcely begun my feast when an unexpected arrival comes on the scene.
It is a young hammerhead, nearly as big as me and drawn by the scent of blood. I’ll have none of this. This is my prey.
I turn towards it and open my jaws, revealing my teeth and twisting into a threatening posture.
It hesitates, and after a moment of indecision, finally moves away into the blue water. This is the first time I have ever turned away any other creature simply by showing off my size and strength. And it will not be the last.
I can see that from now on, things will only get better.

5 years later: A Surprise

There are many surprising things in this world, but none so surprising as what I saw a moment ago. I still am feeling the shock of it. It takes away some of my pride in my strength, size and power, and makes me feel dwarfed. However, the memory is not overly important, so before long I will forget it.
I was gliding along in the ocean, not exactly hungry, but still keeping an eye out for possible prey. The clear blue water surrounded me, as always, when all of a sudden I sensed something enormous moving forward in the distance. Something far bigger than me. But I knew that I was the largest fish in the sea. The largest, and by far the most deadly. Only another of my own species could For a moment I thought that my senses must be playing tricks on me, but I soon realized that this could be an important discovery. If this is a large new predator, I needed to know what it was. Especially if it was a threat to me.
I moved cautiously forwards, and soon found that my senses were not deceiving me. The creature ahead was enormous, even though I could soon tell that it was no threat. Enormous fins were splayed out, allowing it to pass easily through the water. It saw me through its small eye but did not move away in fear.
I was the smaller fish here, and if it came to a battle I would be sorely put to it. I was almost completely full grown, but still dwarfed by this creature.
It would not taste good though, I could tell that easily.

It is simply a big lob in the sea, and it has no effect to my future. I do not regret my decision to leave it be, and it truly is irrelevant. Still, this discovery is a surprise.
I glide on, moving towards a new kelp forest ahead. Who knows what else is ahead, in this vast unknown?

[Lief Erikson]

10 years later: Dangerous Depth.

I am in deeper water today. Deeper than I’ve ever been in before, actually. And farther out. I am now fully grown, and can destroy and eat almost any sea creature I find. My success rate in the hunt is a good deal higher than it used to be, even though there are still some sea creatures which I don’t hunt.
I met two more of the gigantic lobs, and whether I want the memory or not, it is now stuck in my head. That species is catagorized. It is hard to ignore something that is one of the only creatures which are bigger than yourself. Yes, I have met one or two others. All of them peaceful, like the first, but either not tasty or too potentially deadly.
The sea here is dark and I am seeing none of my usual prey. There is a faint light above me which glimmers in the normal sea above. Pressure has increased on me slightly too, and I realize that this is not a safe place. Down below, the darkness seems to drop down endlessly beneath me, a chasm in the sea floor. What lurks down there? For the first time since I was a young one, I feel fear. The depth of the water, the impenetrable darkness. Down there is another world from the one I am used to, and my senses are not capable of coping with it. Indeed, they already are beginning to play tricks on me. Probably the pressure.
Soon I realize that I must leave this place. Here is not a world in which I can survive. In this world, my senses are weakened, I feel the pain of the pressure, and . . . What?
A creature darts out of the darkness, is wide pale eyes bulging and its sharp teeth nearly as long as my fin. But its body is only slightly larger than its teeth! It stares at me for a moment, its jaws working in surprise.
I snap at it, and it jerks away, soon disappearing into the lower depths of the dark world. What it was, I know not. But let it leave my memory.
I swim quickly up to the lighter sea, to my home. The light is around me again, and the comfortable surety of what one knows. I move away from the chasm, leaving the awesome darkness with its strange creatures. Time that I went closer to the shore. I haven’t been there in some time, and there are more seals there, if I remember correctly.
I move swiftly away from the chasm, still trying to forget it. The memory may be awesome, but it is not necessary to my way of life and soon slides off me. I forget it, but the shore is still my destination.

[Lief Erikson]

3 Days later: Arrowing in on the destination.

I am approaching the shoreline. The sea now is teaming with game, but I hold back from its vast luxuries. I am waiting till I find my favorite delicacy, the seal. Also the easiest prey, and the one that I most enjoy.
I know where I can find them, too. There is a seal colony to the south west, and that is where I am headed. The best prey, the most pleasant to devour. Possibly other sharks will have gathered in those areas too. One of the easier paths is going fairly nearby the beach. It is an easy way . . .
I suddenly sense a struggling object ahead. Struggling . . . signals flare in my head, and I shift into attack mode, moving stealthily forward for the ambush. If whatever it is sees me, my attack is likely to fail. A seal, hopefully? A stray?
I move in closer, testing the water for the scent of blood. None, but that does not necessarily mean it certainly is not an injured animal. Perhaps an inexperienced young seal.
I zoom in closer, senses homing in on the object. It is moving away, although slowly. I finally can actually see it.
A strange creature, with four odd limbs protruding from its body, two in the front and two in the back. Its middle has something odd and dark covering it, and there is something odd coming from its head. Sea weed?
A memory tugs at me, one that was long forgotten.
But I am not that close to land. A moment later I belatedly wonder why it has to be close to land. But the creature is climbing up out of the water, entering a strange dark shape, of which only the bottom half is in the water.
Very strange. Yet its center was dark, my usual prey. And . . . confusion sweeps in, but I decide this must be something new. Something to test. Lets see what it does with this.
Moving forward, I gnaw at the boat’s edge. My teeth slide off its smooth surface, leaving only small puncture marks. What is it? Prey, or is it like the lobs, large and untasty?
I move forward again, but suddenly the object begins to move. A part of it which is underwater seems to be propelling it forward.
Curious, I move forward again, the edge my dorsal fin protruding from the water. Suddenly the boat stops, and above the water I can see the creature looking out at me, making loud frantic sounds.
Another of almost the same species appears, and both look at me. I move on. There are no seals here, I must get closer to the beach.
I slide deeper underwater, moving on towards the beach edge.
I am beginning to have some other strange feeling though. A tingling in me, an inborn urge. Something which must be looked to. It is the desire to mate, I soon realize. Females of my species must be near the seal colony too. I can meet both there. I can satisfy my urge and feast upon seal.
The strange creatures are again put behind me, another memory sliding off and disappearing.
This urge is more important. A mate would satisfy it. I slowly begin to signal in the water, hoping to attract a female. I don’t expect one just yet, but I am approaching the areas where the seals are, and there I will expect to meet one. Whether it too has the urge to mate will have to be seen. Most likely all will be gathered there for the feeding frenzy, yet there might be one who has come there for the same reasons as me. It is my best chance.

[Ninquelote]

Alright, I have a strong feeling that sharks come from eggs because they're fish, not mammals. I think I saw a sharkegg once.

[Lief Erikson]

2 Days later: Horror in the deep.

I am now quite close to my destination, and am moving towards the beach line. I am cruising in at a increased speed. The prey is yet ahead, and so are the mates. I stopped making the mating signals a while ago, now I am just trying to get there. Then I will feed, and then start making them again once satisfied. My senses are playing tricks upon me because I am so close, but I know that when I do sense something for real, I shall know it. Three or four more days before I reach my destination.
The water passes easily through my gills as I glide forward, breath coming easily and steadily. I am quite close to the beach now.
Farther ahead, I sense a shape drifting in the water. A dead sea creature? Perhaps, or perhaps some sort of underwater debree. That is more common closer to the seashore, I know from experience.
But as I get closer, I realize that it is no piece of debree at all. It is a dead dolphin, suspended in the water by nothing that I can see. Who killed it, and why? Another sea creature I don’t know about? There is very little blood, and no bite wound.
Whatever it is could be dangerous to me as well. But a moment later I discard that idea. I have never met anything which could cause me any harm except when I was young. Now I am large, a full grown great white shark. But the dead dolphin was simply suspended in the water. It should have hit the bottom long ago.
Strange, but not something that I need look into now. I am not going to eat the dead creature, and the sea colony still calls me onward.
I swim away from the sea creature, continuing my course. But now I am beginning to feel a little more edgy. This is the easiest and quickest route, plus the route in which it is most likely to find seals, I know this. But something about that dead creature still haunts me.
Suddenly I am stopped. Snagged, right in my tracks. An invisible wall! It bends and twists as I attempt to escape it, entirely surrounding me now.
I thrash desperately, but my fins are not built for prying away what I cannot even see. It holds me fast. Water no longer moves through my gills, and breathing is becoming more difficult.
I bite desperately, but my teeth snap closed on nothing. My senses scream out, and I desperately thrash on. I must not give up. But the mesh holds me tight, wrapping around each individual fin. My dorsal fin is caught in the mesh, and I can feel it rubbing against my face.
Twisting, I bite at it, but it simply floats away again. I attempt to strain forward, but all of my flippers are entangled. If I could but get a firm grip upon it, I could rip the stuff to shreds! As it is, it is killing me.
Shock and horror twist through my mind. It is killing me.
Breath is now impossible, but I can live without it for a short time.
I strain, struggling desperately, my mouth open in a desperate posture as I strain to reach the cord that entangles me.
Suffocation begins, and I struggle to breathe. But I cannot force the water through my lungs.
My great might and my gigantic body, my razor sharp teeth are all useless against the force that surrounds me. The mesh is even more wrapped around me, as it had become more tangled the more I struggled.
How can I ever get out?
I stop my struggles for a moment to rest, but desperation forces me back at it an instant later. It is as unavailing now as it was before. I struggle forward, biting and snapping at anything I can.
One of my teeth snags the mesh. Instantly I open my jaws and pound down on that area, slicing the mesh apart. But the hole is small, and it is the back three fourths of my body that are trapped. Mesh suddenly is around my head too, and in such a way that my jaws are now useless.
My eyes roll back in my head . . . and the crushing sensation intensifies. Blackness obscures my vision and . . . I writhe in a wild spasm, and then the throbbing in my body ceases,

[Lief Erikson]

In the sea the great hunter swam,
In the water his life did run,
Stronger than all hunters there,
His many tons of deadly grace.
His teeth were sharp, his might was great,
His heart a dark and relentless place,
But his heart cold could not last
When faced with the horrors he could not see.

In the sea, the great hunter swam,
In the water his life did run,
All other creatures far and near
At his sight did flee as one.
He bit the seal, he swallowed the fish,
He crushed the sea lion’s bones to bits,
But his heart cold could not last
When faced with horrors he could not see.

In the sea the great hunter swam,
In the water his life did run,
But he was in danger as he swam
Towards the beaches where humans were.
His back was gray his eyes were black,
His body crushed and limp and dead,
When in the water he was found,
Caught in the mesh of a fishing net.

[Lief Erikson]

Originally posted by Ninquelote
Alright, I have a strong feeling that sharks come from eggs because they're fish, not mammals. I think I saw a sharkegg once.

Originally written in The World Book
Sharks have fewer young at a time than most fish do. Some species give birth to 60 or more pups in a litter, but most have far fewer. The parents do not take care of the young-and many even eat them.

Shark eggs, unlike those of most fish, are fertilized inside the female's body. The male shark has two organs called claspers, which release sperm into the female, where it fertilizes the eggs. Among most species of sharks, the eggs hatch inside the female, and the pups are born alive.

[Ninquelote]

My big question is: Who would read this? What audience are you aiming at? If you don't know, then who do you expect to read this? I mean, it's about a shark, and enough people have seen Deep Blue and Jaws to think that sharks are scary and shouldn't be sympathized with.

[Ninquelote]

Yayaya, but some have eggs.

[Lief Erikson]

I expect Entmooters to read it . There's a lot of information out about sharks nowadays for most people to know that Jaws and Deep Blue were makebelieve. I'm not trying to start a cause or launch into a career of "Save the shark!" But I do hope people read and hopefully enjoy this story.

[Ninquelote]

But it's really boring, in my opinion.

[Lief Erikson]

Originally posted by Ninquelote
Yayaya, but some have eggs.

What's your point?

[Lief Erikson]

Originally posted by Ninquelote
But it's really boring, in my opinion.

Then don't read it. Thanks for your opinion.

[Ninquelote]

Originally posted by Lief Erikson
What's your point?

Nothing, nothing, just trying to defend my confusion.

[IronParrot]

Okay, so it's the life of a shark, from the shark's perspective, and in the present tense. So I can see that it's a technical experiment, and a lot of it is pretty well-handled. However, Ninquelote makes a good point: who is the intended audience, and what are you trying to show? What lies beyond the technical aspect of the piece?

Oh, the last bit bothered me slightly:

Blackness begins to obscure my vision as my lungs desperately cry out. The suffocation finally ends and merciful death takes away my life.

First of all, I'm pretty sure sharks don't have lungs... secondly, I like how the whole piece is in present tense, but that does raise some issues with "merciful death takes away my life" - but if the shark is dead, then how is it still alive to think/say that last line? It's something that comes up from time to time with first-person deaths that raises questions... and it's obviously not a retrospective afterlife thing, because then it would be in past tense.

Aside from that, though, I do like how you try to get into the head of an animal, and how it learns about its surroundings piece by piece.

[Lief Erikson]

Thanks for those comments, they're good and well taken. I'll change the ending sentences.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Actually, Nin, some people really kind of "fall in love" with sharks. Eugene Clark comes to mind, and my brother and I are both quite fond of sharks (I love them both in the movies and real life, and I know he used to, though I'm not so sure about now). They really are interesting creatures.

Lief, I'd love to read and review this, but I just do not have time now. Another time, I hope.

[Lief Erikson]

Originally posted by Gwaimir Windgem
Actually, Nin, some people really kind of "fall in love" with sharks. Eugene Clark comes to mind, and my brother and I are both quite fond of sharks (I love them both in the movies and real life, and I know he used to, though I'm not so sure about now). They really are interesting creatures.

Thank-you. I was hoping someone would make that comment .

[Earniel]

Couldn't agree more with you GW. Sharks are fascinating creatures. Though I would completely panic if I met any shark larger than 30 centimeters in the water (but then I panic at meeting anything larger than 30 cm in the water ) , I like them. And they could use some sympathy. Shark populations are dwindling at alarming speed nowadays due to discarded and illegal invisible nets and the sick practise of 'finning' the sharks (catching them, cutting off all their fins and throwing the still living but immobilised shark into the sea). Mmm... better stop before I launch myself into a 'save the shark' carreer.

It was interesting to read, Lief. Very special. You seem to know a thing or two about sharks. I was pleasantly surprised to read about the shark twisting into threathening poses. That's something I only learned about them very recently.

The mesh was a sad but very realistic end.

What was the giant 'lob' he encountered? A whale shark?