Wednesday, April 22, 2009

One More Thing The Frugal Maven Didn't Need To Start Eating

On my vacation, which I swear I will quit talking about sometime soon, I had shark kebobs, a new food to add to my ever-growing list of things I love to eat. They were fantastic, with a great texture and sweet yet meaty taste. I felt slightly bad eating poor little sharkie since I know nothing about sharks, 20 years of Shark Week specials notwithstanding. After eating it, which was not the right time but oh well, I decided to find out what I could about the Blacktip Shark who gave his or her literal all for my happy lunch.
Here is what I now know about these creatures:

  • They are found mostly in Atlantic waters from South Carolina to Texas.
  • They grow to about 6 feet.
  • Their children are called pups. Sweet!
  • They mature in 4-6 years and have litters of 4-6 pups. This means they mature faster and have more offspring than most sharks.
  • They regrow their teeth throughout their lives.
  • 28 shark attacks but no deaths have been attributed to blacktips since 1580.
  • A female blacktip in captivity was found to be carrying a near-term shark pup when she was autopsied after death. She was the second shark to be verified as having fertilized her own egg without any male participation, a process known as parthenogenesis and an excellent argument for evolution.
  • In Hawaii some families consider blacktip sharks to be their guardian spirits.
  • Any recipe for swordfish is useful for cooking blacktip shark meat.

Now you also know some new things about sharks. Enjoy!

1 comments:

Robynn's Ravings said...

I prefer my shark on a skewer. Mmmmmmmmm.

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