Most of them were striped diagonally with bands of
yellow, contrasting curiously with the dingy grey of their normal
colour. From this marking is derived their popular name--"tiger
sharks," not, as might be supposed, from their ferocity. That
attribute cannot properly be applied to the SQUALUS at all, which
is one of the most timid fish afloat, and whose ill name, as far
as regards blood-thirstiness, is quite undeserved. Rapacious the
shark certainly is; but what sea-fish is not? He is not at all
particular as to his diet; but what sea-fish is? With such a
great bulk of body, such enormous vitality and vigour to support,
he must needs be ever eating; and since he is not constructed on
swift enough lines to enable him to prey upon living fish, like
most of his neighbours, he is perforce compelled to play the
humble but useful part of a sea-scavenger.
He eats man, as he eats anything else eatable because in the
water man is easily caught, and not from natural depravity or an
acquired taste begetting a decided preference for human flesh.
All natives of shores infested by sharks despise him and his
alleged man-eating propensities, knowing that a very feeble
splashing will suffice to frighten him away even if ever so
hungry.
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