BABY AT 9 WEEKS IN THE WOMB

Malta: When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. Baby sharks are on their own right from the start, and their mother may see them only as prey. At birth the baby shark is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long already; as it grows it may reach a length three times that.
The pup (which is what a baby shark is called) will live its life at the top of the ocean’s food chain. As the largest predatory fish in the ocean, great white sharks are the top predators of the sea. But before it grows larger, the pup must avoid predators bigger than it is—including other great white sharks. Many baby sharks do not survive their first year.
Young great white sharks eat fish (including other sharks) and rays. As it grows, the shark’s favorite prey becomes sea mammals, especially sea lions and seals.
Sharks count on the element of surprise as they hunt. When they see a seal at the surface of the water, sharks will often position themselves underneath the seal. Then they swim upward at a fast sprint, bursting out of the water in a leap called a breach, and falling back into the water with the seal in their mouths.

Sharks don’t chew their food; they rip off chunks of meat and swallow them whole. After eating a seal or a sea lion the great white shark can last a month or two without another big meal.
Female great white sharks usually bear their first young when they are 12 to 14 years old. And if the pups survive their youth, they, too, become predators at the top of the food chain.
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This is the story of one white shark captured in Malta April 17, 1987. Alfredo Cutajar, a local fisherman, of the fishing village called 'Wied-iz-zurrieq' was out for his daily tour. It was the time of the year for fishing tuna and swordfish, so he had a hook 25 cm long tied to a big rope and a ballast of stone. It is a type of fish that is very popular for Maltese fishermen because of always excellent profits. But this time not a single tuna or swordfish was biting Alfredo's steel hook (Alfredo is nicknamed "Son of God" by everyone because he is the only one who catches all the biggest sharks that visit our waters).
At exactly 4:30 a.m. on April 17th, Alfredo boarded his 5 meter boat, powered by a 9.9 CV outboard, prepared for his lonely tour of checking his hooks and collecting his bait. After about 1/2 hour he arrived at the point where he left, as a rule, his first hook. His lines were always connected to a big marker, either a big cork or an empty jug. Checking them one by one, he saw that one of the cork floats was submerged and that something big was attached: a swordfish or maybe a tuna.
He approached the float and tried to anchor the rope of the line but it was too heavy and stuck. He looked around hoping to see someone in the vicinity who could help him. He saw a big fishing boat and began signaling so that it would come to help him. Quickly the big fishing boat reached him and soon the line was fastened to the windlass and hoisted on board. While this was going on, Alfredo noticed an enormous white shape coming out from the deep blue sea. Nearer the surface, Alfredo realized that he was dealing with a gigantic shark that was struggling for life. Little by little it was brought to the surface: it was almost two times the length of Alfredo's boat. It was so enormous that it was necessary to hang it alongside the big fishing boat and it took three hours to return to the village. When they arrived, the shark was still showing signs of life while the people gathered around to look at it. But disappointingly, the shark was too heavy for the available dock davit, which was used only for hauling small boats, so the big fishing boat and shark went back to sea to another fishing village, Marsaxlokk, where there is a crane on the dock. There also a big crowd gathered. I was present, with a tape measure, in order to take down all the shark data.
The monster was barely out of the water up to its stomach when I and another fisherman began to cut it open. We pulled out a completely intact 2 m blue shark, a dolphin of about 2.5 m in two pieces and a 70 cm turtle. Only the head of the dolphin was in a state of putrefaction. The liver of the shark measured from one end to the other about 4 m. When it was carried to land and completely examined, we realized we were dealing with a female. The uterus open, I discovered that only a week before she had given birth to 10 pups, after 22 months of pregnancy. Therefore being very hungry, she swallowed all that happened to come in front of her. That is normal for a white shark. Moreover, normally the male remains around the female until the end of the gestation and the birth of the pups. That must have been what happened too to Alfredo's shark because a male was seen in the area during those days and a fisherman who had ca

I'm so excited, I get to play too!! Here are my 16 things. I hope you find them entertaining, if not interesting. :^)

1. I was completely infatuated with Robert Urich from the time I was about 13 until well into my thirties (and was very sad when he passed away at such a young age). I joined his fan club, wrote to him numerous times and used to follow everything he did!
2. I might have pursued a career as a veterinarian or ob/gyn if I had had the head for science and math
3. I have always been drawn to psychology and used to take Abnormal Psych. college textbooks out of the library when I was in high school, just to read and learn about the topic.
4. I’ve always loved animals and hope to have a house full of cats and dogs when we have our own home.
5. I had a baby brother who died of SIDS when I was 2 (he was 7 weeks old).
6. I’ve always been fascinated by Helen Keller (and love the movie “The Miracle Worker”)
7. I have never smoked (never even tried a cigarette).
8. I always wanted to be able to breastfeed my child and have now done so for 17 months (and counting!).
9. I LOVE LOVE LOVE making candles (had to give it up in 2004 when we moved into a tiny apt. & since we moved I haven’t wanted to mess up our new kitchen, so I’m waiting to move into a home with enough space for a messy studio!).
10. I’ve always wanted to be a well-known author (or artist or something accomplished) and have been writing my life story since I was 17
11. My son was in the breech position for most of the third trimester of my pregnancy, and his head had to be unwedged from under my ribs during the c-section.
12. I always wanted to learn Sign Language, and now I am learning to sign along with my son
13. I love to sing
14. Brigantine, NJ is my favorite place on earth
15. I met my husband on-line, thanks to a Yahoo personal ad
16. I have been eating fried matzo every day since Passover of last year, which I have never done before (matzo was always only for Passover in my house/mind).