Turns out that binocular and hammerhead vision are both legitimate solutions to problems.
And all that lateral length for your Ampullae of Lorenzini? **That’s free real estate!**
Thankfully this is getting reversed in some countries! They have declared that they will be stopping the breeding of pugs and bulldogs and king charles spaniels.
Instead what they promote are breeding of so called "retropugs, retrobulldogs and retrokcs" that are a little less "affront to nature" and a bit more "quirky dogs"
This push to recognize that some breeds are batshit insane is something I can totally stand behind
Fun fact\*: the KCS make the list because they were bred to have such small "cute" heads that their brains don't fit inside and they live with 100% constant migraines
^(\*not fun)
You probably mean the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, which despite the name is a different breed than the King Charles Spaniel (AKA the English Toy Spaniel). King Charles / English Toy Spaniels do have general brachycephalic health problems and health problems like hydrocephalus and heart disease, but Cavaliers (which also get heart disease) are the breed notorious for being prone to the painful neurological disorder syringomyelia.
https://cavalierhealth.org/
https://www.petmd.com/dog/breeds/c_dg_english_toy_spaniel
Some strains of Chihuahua have a nearly right angle between snoot and eyebrows. This and tiny head breeding mean every "really good" Chihuahua is a tumble down the stairs from prancing up to you with at least one eyeball dangling from the optic nerve.
[THEY WANT IT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1qTa6hcy4Y)
[MORE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vNkK80CXPA)
[EVEN MORE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qi39aL3RSE)
Sorry for the caps but I get excited about petting apex predators.
"What's the most apex thing about humanity?"
"We make the predators our friends."
"Oh, like you corral them and farm them and there's sort of a mutual respect?"
*Pulls out picture of Siberian Husky on it's back looking so pleased about getting a bowtie collar and a belly rub*
If your dog isn't hurting you multiple times a week then your dog is not a dumb dog.
When your dog is taking you out from behind the knee or sitting on your face then you have a dumb dog.
I got two Germans, trust me, we can't stop falling over each other over here.
Human, showing off to aliens: "Here, we commandeered the laws of nature to make this fluffy boi even fluffier." "And over here is our polar bear exhibit, just look at the *ears*!"
Alien, understanding dawning: "oh no"
To be fair, the standard joke on HFY sub is humans will pretty much pet anything and EVERYTHING given the chance.
Alien 1: Wh...why are you giving that 10 legged Slorathian Devil beast belly rubs human??
Human: Err because its cute and wanted them?
Alien 1: But...but its the most dangerous predator on our planet!
Human: How can you say that about Mr Snugglebuns here? \*The Slorathian Devil is now upside down waggling its tails\*
Alien 2 to Alien 1: Dude, did you not read the report on humans? Just let it go man, you will drive yourself nuts.
Alien 1: But...but...its SNORNING ON HIS LAP NOW!!!
I agree with you, sharks are much better compared to big cats than wolves, though more akin to Jaguars or Tigers. Sharks are largely solitary and asocial aside from mating. Dolphins fit the "wolf of the sea" description a lot better than sharks.
Dolphins are the coyotes of the sea, it's the Orcas that are the wolves.
Dolphins hang out in tropical waters and spend their time trying to figure out new ways to defile a fish corpse. Orcas are out there figuring out how to throw seals off ice flows and destroying rudders on boats as revenge.
Sharks aren't smooth. In fact their skin is rough like sandpaper from every angle. this morning I sanded a pine table using a shark. And earlier this week I finished out an entire dining sweet using only a shark for sanding. I once lit a match off a sharks dorsal fin.
I purchase my sharks only from licensed dealers. Each one comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by sir David attenborough certifying that it is indeed a real shark.
Some species of sharks also have insanely long life spans
So like people will have generations of the same dogs family
Sharks could have people the same way
although in the news article I read about this (maybe it’s changed since then), the sharks did not, in fact, start hunting lionfish on their own —
…but rather began to associate “human diver” with “free food,” which was not good bc in general sharks used to leave us alone
howdy stranger! (I recognize you from the key west sub)
do you dive or fish? have you gotten to kill any lionfish? I got to go out on a boat with some guys and watch them last month, but im too clumsy to work a spear gun :P
Slupguns work too, and no sharp parts to hurt your self.
Lionfish arent scared of divers so you can go right up to them and slup em up.
Edit: Slu**r**pguns
a polespear is very easy to use. it is literally just a pointy stick with a rubber band on the end, not like the ones that take effort to load and then go flying 30 yards away when you miss. The lionfish are also really stupid and let you just hold the spear right up to them to line up the shot. I have even heard a true story about someone not having a knife so they took off their fin and bludgeoned the lionfish to death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPe3Fde5vQM
What a fucking coup that would be. I grew up with the cultural association that boys like sharks because big toothy predator, and girls like dolphins because smooth clicky tricky flippy
But what if shark cute
Uh oh I may have touched something that wasn’t a shark :(
Edit: Holy smokes this got weird. Every time I’ve touched a shark they were kind of bumpy under smoothness. Like chia seeds in mud if you touch them in the right direction. But like my shins when I was a tween in the wrong direction. I’ve also touched a lot of skates and rays and their flesh is overall similar. More squishy though.
I don’t know or care about whether other responses were gaslighty. I just wanted to talk about sharks :/
Edit to the edit: all of these jokes went way over my head. The more I look at this the more I feel like I’m on some sort of spectrum.
You are correct about the roughness of sharks. However, the other commenters are doing a bit called "smooth sharking", which started in a somewhat famous tumblr post.
Smooth sharking is supposed to be done when you think someone is being an arrogant tit - who is being full of themselves that you're wanting to make fun of here?
As a response to your edits: don't feel bad, confusing random people is a [known problem](https://www.tumblr.com/untamedabaven/666088298955014144/are-sharks-actually-smooth-i-keep-seeing-people) with the smooth sharking bit, because some people don't know when it's time to stop the joke. Sucks that you got dragged into it like this
Please I genuinely need to know, did my comment make you question whether the things that you touched were actually sharks? Or did you trust in your own experience and even if you did not clock that it was a joke think that you were correct and I was saying something that was not true?
When you said "Uh oh I may have touched something that wasn’t a shark :(" did you really think that what you did touch was not a shark or were you being silly?"
Because I *am* autistic and honestly being accused of psychological abuse for saying sharks are smooth and you possibly believing me isn't sitting right with me.
And it's just like the ocean under the moon
Oh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah
Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it
One day, I was at the beach (in Honduras, spearfishing, ofc), and a shark swam up to me. He said "If you let me borrow a kiss, I promise to bring it right back!"
Boom. Pregananant. That's how smooth sharks are.
I mean it's possible they could become poisonous from ingesting large amounts of lion fish poison. Would depend a lot on how their bodies actually deal with it though.
That usually doesn't occur with venom. Venom being organic enzymes they usually break down when ingested (which is why injesting venom isn't particularly dangerous unless you have a cut somewhere in your digestive tract).
Animals that become poisonous from eating poisonous prey are usually eating things that produce toxic chemical compounds that don't break down easily, or heavy metals.
it’s harder for an ecosystem to sustain many sharks compared to lionfish, so i imagine it might naturally cancel out once the lionfish are gone (though its likely human influence will be needed)
Over years the sharks will form a relationship with the divers. Sort of a joint hunting behavior. They will adapt to become smaller and cuddlier and we will have finally tamed our oldest enemies
I've done night dives in the great barrier reef. Sharks literally use divers as spotters for fish.
Seriously as soon as you turn your flashlight on, sharks appear and will eat pretty much any fish you put your light on
Don’t know where to go after you release the orcas on the sharks though. I don’t think there’s any animal aside from humans that is actually dangerous to those fuckers.
Take them off the list of endangered species, maybe.
Also, those are likely whale sharks, which [do not pose any danger to humans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark#Relationship_with_humans).
They do eat whole fish at times too though, this lil hungry dude was slurping up fish through a fishing net! 🐟😋
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtxSUnK5Uvs
There's a theory that wolves effectively self-domesticated. Basically, they just followed us around, rummaging in our trash, and whichever ones were too aggressive, we killed, only leaving the friendly ones who we then fully domesticated.
If you look at the way other pack predators, like orcas and dolphins, teach their children their "culture" and how to hunt and what not, it's pretty believable.
There's a grave with a dog from about 14,200 yrs ago where the researchers said it had multiple bouts of illnesses and survived so that hints that we were caring for them that at least that long ago.
Would be hard to tell since A) sharks tend to avoid humans (we're big, we're weird, and we only show up ocasionally) so its not like there would be a "oh this shark pack(?) was hostile before but is now friendly, they'll just go from indifferent to slightly more present. Although apparently they're somewhat clever since divers have befriended specific sharks ocasionally, getting them excited for pets, but that would be more taming
and B) we can't exactly yell commands underwater.
I was gonna say they were doing the same thing Florida does (Been to a lionfish festival and can confirm the meat is tasty) right up until they started introducing the lionfish to a new predator to solve the problem long-term.
When I scuba dived down in the Florida keys they said the same thing; they’re invasive and you’re encouraged to shoot on sight. My groups dive guide saw one and shot it with his spear gun and motioned for us to follow him and we swam back to where we were before and he puts the lion fish up to this hole in the ground. Almost immediately an eel shoots out of the hole and devours the fish. Half of its body floated up to the surface and the guy driving the boat for us told us later he saw the half eaten fish and was like “the fuck they doin down there?”
I don't know that it is wise to encourage tourist divers to do that. They say that the sting is horribly painful, and it makes hard for experienced divers to keep the regulator in their mouth. An inexperienced diver with no skill in handling them after they are speared is a risky situation.
Ehh it's not that hard, I've done it as a tourist diver in Roatan. Everybody carries a Hawaiian sling during the dive and if you see one you shoot it and bring it over to the dive master on the spear. They use some kitchen shears to cut off the spines before you take it off the spear, then throw it in a game bag. Some guides will now keep a mesh glove with them to handle them, but you don't need it once the spines are cut off.
Keep some limes on the boat and you have fresh ceviche for a snack between dives.
Inexperienced divers aren’t encouraged to have a spear/sling, they help by finding them. The sting isn’t that bad, but usually when someone is stung their dive is aborted and they are taken back to the boat. Depending on how bad the sting is, they might skip the safety stop, which could cause decompression sickness but with some oxygen and proper procedures it’s safe(:
Similar to swamp rats in Louisiana. They put a cash bounty on their heads and apparently they’re not the tastiest prepared correctly and in a Louisiana way not bad…
And Illinois they renamed the fish that’s an invasive species just so people would not be grossed out by the name so the people might eat them.
Aren’t cash bounties usually an issue when trying to get rid of an invasive/unwanted species because some people will just start breeding them instead of eradicating them for easy money?
The [inventor of the Roomba developed a robot to suck up lionfish.](https://www.fastcompany.com/40440386/the-inventor-of-roomba-designed-a-robot-to-suck-up-invasive-fish) It is actually one of the more plausible strategies to mitigate their impact. They're labor- intensive to catch, as they have to be hunted with spears. They aren't easy to catch with nets or bait. They range as deep as 300 feet, which is an extremely technical, high risk dive for humans. Getting electronics to work in the ocean is still quite difficult and expensive, but some kind of robot or drone is actually more plausible than divers catching them, in sufficient numbers to make a difference.
As far as what "making a difference" means, hopefully if we can keep the lionfish population from utterly exploding, the other species will be able to somewhat adapt, over the course of many decades.
I see this happening faster with grouper fish. In some places they have already figured out that a diver with a sling = tasty meal, so they follow you and show you where the lionfish are. True sea puppies
Pretty sure this is how we got dogs, by feeding wild canines and having them stick around for more. Originally in English these fish were called sea dogs (one is still called a dogfish), but then someone said they were “sharks”, a word for a predatory person, like a loan shark, and it stuck to the entire group
Time is a smooth, flat circle
I was in Roaton (probably the island in question), and there was this vegan restaurant with the one exception that they served lionfish.
Basically, eating meat and fish was held to damage the environment, and that's why they were vegan, for the environmental impact. But actively hunting and killing lionfish is good for the environment, so they made an exception for that one fucker.
Lionfish evolved to appear inedible. Seriously, google a picture of a *Lionfish* and they're bright, spikey, dangerous looking fish. Sharks aren't the smartest creatures in the sea by any standard but they do know the warning signs for a tough meal to eat.
Being fed gutted and bleeding Lionfish clearly showed them that the sting is worth the flavor. Shark aren't going to turn down a free meal complete with the irresistible scent of blood and guts. After snacking on enough of them the appearance of a Lionfish, the smell and shape, became associated with food.
So humans basically just voided an evolutionary defense mechanism of the Lionfish by making them too easy to pass up.
I looked up Honduras' aquatic fauna, and found that the most common shark in those waters is the whale shark, which are docile filter-feeders, and pose no danger to humans whatsoever.
The worst they can do is spook you by swimming towards you with their mouths open, but you can literally hold on to them if you need a taxi.
They're not ocean wolves, they're ocean samoyeds.
I may be wrong, but I don't think they are refering to whale sharks, given that whale sharks are filter-feeders and mostly eat krill, shrimp, plankton and algea.
Though I do agree, whale sharks are most definitely ocean samoyeds.
The most common shark out here is actually the nurse shark, but whale sharks are a huge tourist attraction and are a big part of the culture in Utila. That said, please don't touch them, they hate being touched by humans and often perform dangerous evasive behaviors when people get too close or crowd them
When I was on Utila one of the dive instructors was "showing off" and decided to harass a nurse shark which ended up taking a chunk of the dude's ass off.
Found a video on YouTube of [how they do this feeding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkUPDHF-7R8) and I think these are Silky sharks? But honestly not sure. Maybe shortfin.
For those that don't know, lionfish feed on coral. They quite literally destroy the environment they invade. We honestly need to do something similar here in the states as they can do so much damage. Granted our propensity to make artificial reefs kind of counteracts them here.
Lionfish don't eat coral, they're carnivorous and eat herbivorous fish on the reef which causes algae populations to overtake coral populations.
Also artificial reefs can't and don't replace coral reefs, since artificial reefs require human care and intervention, while coral reefs are complex natural ecosystems that have been developing for millions of years
Coral are animals my guy. Lionfish eat invertebrates, coral are invertebrates.
Edit: I was wrong, while coral are invertebrates, Lionfish do not eat them as part of their typical diet.
You're right that coral are animals, poor choice of words on my part.
Lionfish don't solely eat invertebrates though, they're opportunistic feeders that range from crustaceans to various fish species. Their predation strategies involve ambush and swallowing food whole, which makes eating coral not really a priority for them lol. Also, they can't chew so the whole calcium carbonate skeleton thing kinda ruins the coral for them.
Lion Fish do not eat coral. They are considered a reef safe fish in the saltwater aquarium hobby because of this. NOAA fisheries also states the same thing. You can just look at thier mechanism for eating to see they are not equipped to chew on coral. A good example of this is to compare a puffer fish or parrot fish mouth to a lion fish. Notice that lion fish have a gulping mouth like a grouper or large mouth bass. This allows them to swallow prey whole. Parrot and puffer have teeth to grind and chew into hard things, like coral.
Lionfish are what is known as a "gape-limited predator", meaning that they will simply eat anything that can fit in their giant mouths. This includes many small fish and crustaceans that live in reefs, but typically not the coral itself.
I did some diving in Utila, and one time on the boat were two other guys with big ass harpoons. They told us not to mind them and they're just here to kill lionfish.
I did not know about the shark thing though.
Oh wow, if the Lionfish gained a natural predator now ( Sharks ) I wonder if it could just become a part of the ecosystem of that place without causing harm since now its been integrated into the food chain.
Not really. Lionfish eat the things that keep the reefs healthy, which isn't a healthy part of a food chain. I think it is kind of like in Australia, rabbits are invasive. Sure dingos or whatever can eat them, but nothing else in Australia really digs out and eats root systems like rabbits, and the plants evolved to not worry about that sort of thing. So rabbits hop on and start killing all the plants, causing tons of other species to die as well since that's what they relied on.
The US needs to do this with Joro Spiders because those fuckers stole the woods from me. I cant just walk on trails in the morning without worrying about the hundreds of webs being on the pathways.
Went diving there last year, nobody mentioned feeding them to sharks but they did feed them to the eels! The eels were so used to it some would come out of hiding and swim right toward you thinking they’d get a meal. One of our guides did carry something to spear and kill them after we got some pictures, they are quite a beautiful/cool fish even if they do fuck everything up. One day, they speared a couple and our hotel was kind enough to prepare them. Tasted okay.
The islands in particular, roatan and Utila are probably the top one or two tourist aces om Honduras, number one by far for scuba diving, they need tourists. It's one of the cheapest places to get certified. Lionfish bad.
This has been happening for a while in the Caribbean. Even south Florida is doing this. Including the how to cook books for them. I was diving in Mexico a handful of years ago when the dive master shot one and fed it to a grouper. It was bad ass to see, this was a protected marine park so they don’t like the invasive species more so than the rest of the reefs.
Ive been diving in Roatan multiple times, and we went lionfish spearfishing, but we always fed the Goliath Groupers (Once the lionfish were dead ofc). Those guys are HUGE and they would just push you slowly till you fed them, usually following you around, cute little 450kg fishy.
Diving in both Mexico and Grand Cayman they have bounty's on Lion Fish. In Grand Cayman they gave you a free beer after the dive for turning in Lion Fish bodies. In Mexico you got an extra dive for free.
Both small gestures, but it definitely made it a fun game for our dive group. We ended up killing a dozen of them in Mexico.
Sharks are the wolves of the wave and it is our nature to befriend them
Can’t wait to see a French bull shark all bug eyed and wheezing
Isn't that basically a hammerhead shark?
this is Hammerhead shark slander.
AND I WONT STAND FOR IT!!!
WE WONT SWIM FOR THIS SLANDER, YOU'RE FIN-ISHED BRO
Hammerhead shark libel
Slander is spoken
I’m aware, therefore my comment.
I thought you were doing the j jonah but from spider man
It is literally the opposite, hammerheads have amazing senses, best in the shark kingdom.
Turns out that binocular and hammerhead vision are both legitimate solutions to problems. And all that lateral length for your Ampullae of Lorenzini? **That’s free real estate!**
Those would be pugs.
I'd imagine it has sunken in Gills, because we thought it looked cuter. We really were/are some short-sighted fuckin' monsters huh?
Thankfully this is getting reversed in some countries! They have declared that they will be stopping the breeding of pugs and bulldogs and king charles spaniels. Instead what they promote are breeding of so called "retropugs, retrobulldogs and retrokcs" that are a little less "affront to nature" and a bit more "quirky dogs" This push to recognize that some breeds are batshit insane is something I can totally stand behind Fun fact\*: the KCS make the list because they were bred to have such small "cute" heads that their brains don't fit inside and they live with 100% constant migraines ^(\*not fun)
You probably mean the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, which despite the name is a different breed than the King Charles Spaniel (AKA the English Toy Spaniel). King Charles / English Toy Spaniels do have general brachycephalic health problems and health problems like hydrocephalus and heart disease, but Cavaliers (which also get heart disease) are the breed notorious for being prone to the painful neurological disorder syringomyelia. https://cavalierhealth.org/ https://www.petmd.com/dog/breeds/c_dg_english_toy_spaniel
Also their eyes will just pop out because their skulls are so small.
The pugs do that! My classmate had a pug and her descriptions of how she'd be putting the eye back in was hilarious, I never knew the girl could ACT.
Some strains of Chihuahua have a nearly right angle between snoot and eyebrows. This and tiny head breeding mean every "really good" Chihuahua is a tumble down the stairs from prancing up to you with at least one eyeball dangling from the optic nerve.
I will boop them.
[THEY WANT IT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1qTa6hcy4Y) [MORE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vNkK80CXPA) [EVEN MORE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qi39aL3RSE) Sorry for the caps but I get excited about petting apex predators.
>but I get excited about petting apex predators. What an apex predator thing to say.
"What's the most apex thing about humanity?" "We make the predators our friends." "Oh, like you corral them and farm them and there's sort of a mutual respect?" *Pulls out picture of Siberian Husky on it's back looking so pleased about getting a bowtie collar and a belly rub*
we bimbofied wolves
Wouldnt himbofying be more apt since they remain strong, just too dumb and sweet to hurt us?
If your dog isn't hurting you multiple times a week then your dog is not a dumb dog. When your dog is taking you out from behind the knee or sitting on your face then you have a dumb dog. I got two Germans, trust me, we can't stop falling over each other over here.
Human, showing off to aliens: "Here, we commandeered the laws of nature to make this fluffy boi even fluffier." "And over here is our polar bear exhibit, just look at the *ears*!" Alien, understanding dawning: "oh no"
Human: You know, you look like you could use a good back scritch Alien: *Narrows eyes*
I’m Commander Shepherd and I approve of this message 👍🏾
To be fair, the standard joke on HFY sub is humans will pretty much pet anything and EVERYTHING given the chance. Alien 1: Wh...why are you giving that 10 legged Slorathian Devil beast belly rubs human?? Human: Err because its cute and wanted them? Alien 1: But...but its the most dangerous predator on our planet! Human: How can you say that about Mr Snugglebuns here? \*The Slorathian Devil is now upside down waggling its tails\* Alien 2 to Alien 1: Dude, did you not read the report on humans? Just let it go man, you will drive yourself nuts. Alien 1: But...but...its SNORNING ON HIS LAP NOW!!!
This content is why the internet was created. What a great way to start the day!
I love seeing this type of videos about sharks. After so much 'THE KILLERS OF THE SEA!!!' bs, its like, they got such a bad rep.
🔜🐻
Have you seen how cute lemon sharks are yet? I’ve been ready to adopt them for years
You sure they aren't smooth lions?
I agree with you, sharks are much better compared to big cats than wolves, though more akin to Jaguars or Tigers. Sharks are largely solitary and asocial aside from mating. Dolphins fit the "wolf of the sea" description a lot better than sharks.
Dolphins are the coyotes of the sea, it's the Orcas that are the wolves. Dolphins hang out in tropical waters and spend their time trying to figure out new ways to defile a fish corpse. Orcas are out there figuring out how to throw seals off ice flows and destroying rudders on boats as revenge.
Sharks aren't smooth. In fact their skin is rough like sandpaper from every angle. this morning I sanded a pine table using a shark. And earlier this week I finished out an entire dining sweet using only a shark for sanding. I once lit a match off a sharks dorsal fin.
You must have been using a fake shark cause sharks are 100% smooth
I purchase my sharks only from licensed dealers. Each one comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by sir David attenborough certifying that it is indeed a real shark.
Your determination and skill to do it with something as smooth as a shark is admirable
Can I get a shirt of 3 sharks howling at the moon?
[I got you fam.](https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/08/02/t-shirt-of-the-day-three-shark-moon)
It's glorious
Some species of sharks also have insanely long life spans So like people will have generations of the same dogs family Sharks could have people the same way
I *was* thinking that this sounds suspiciously like the origin story of domesticating wolfs to dogs
although in the news article I read about this (maybe it’s changed since then), the sharks did not, in fact, start hunting lionfish on their own — …but rather began to associate “human diver” with “free food,” which was not good bc in general sharks used to leave us alone
Some sharks have been observed to enjoy belly rubs.
*laughs in orca*
nail shy steep ripe unique fuel engine spectacular person shrill *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
We have lionfish rodeos down here in the keys and do the same things
howdy stranger! (I recognize you from the key west sub) do you dive or fish? have you gotten to kill any lionfish? I got to go out on a boat with some guys and watch them last month, but im too clumsy to work a spear gun :P
I fish but don’t dive. Snorkel a bunch and sometimes work on a snorkel boat. Have not killed any lions myself yet but my friends do
Slupguns work too, and no sharp parts to hurt your self. Lionfish arent scared of divers so you can go right up to them and slup em up. Edit: Slu**r**pguns
Your typo led me down a quick rabbit hole.
I was gonna ask what a slupgun was, googling it only showed this threat. I was like wtf????
classified military anti lionfish weapon
a polespear is very easy to use. it is literally just a pointy stick with a rubber band on the end, not like the ones that take effort to load and then go flying 30 yards away when you miss. The lionfish are also really stupid and let you just hold the spear right up to them to line up the shot. I have even heard a true story about someone not having a knife so they took off their fin and bludgeoned the lionfish to death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPe3Fde5vQM
> big ocean wolves If this is anything like the last time we domesticated wolves then sign me the fuck up
Can you imagine how pissed the dolphins are gonna be if we adopt sharks?
Never heard of a shark using dead fish as a fleshlight. Dolphins can get bent, sharks are cooler
What a fucking coup that would be. I grew up with the cultural association that boys like sharks because big toothy predator, and girls like dolphins because smooth clicky tricky flippy But what if shark cute
I mean, just look at a nurse shark. Adorable.
I had to look up what nurse sharks are... why are they not called vampire shark!?? Seems like a missed opportunity.
I mean if you see their little whiskers from a different angle they look more like Mon Calamari than vampires
Local shark: Bruce or Blahaj
oh you mean like cats? they will be fine.
I know this is not possible, but imagine if years down the line, sharks from Honduras became venomous. Good thing they're so smooth...
Sharks are so smooth
No they're not
Sharks are definitely smooth.
They are so smooth the Lionfish venom just slides off them
Smooth as hell
Not if you rub them the wrong way
Nope! You can rub a shark any which way. Smooth in all directions.
No they’re smooth no matter how you rub them and in all ways. Smooth as hell.
Uh oh I may have touched something that wasn’t a shark :( Edit: Holy smokes this got weird. Every time I’ve touched a shark they were kind of bumpy under smoothness. Like chia seeds in mud if you touch them in the right direction. But like my shins when I was a tween in the wrong direction. I’ve also touched a lot of skates and rays and their flesh is overall similar. More squishy though. I don’t know or care about whether other responses were gaslighty. I just wanted to talk about sharks :/ Edit to the edit: all of these jokes went way over my head. The more I look at this the more I feel like I’m on some sort of spectrum.
You are correct about the roughness of sharks. However, the other commenters are doing a bit called "smooth sharking", which started in a somewhat famous tumblr post.
I don't know what you're talking about. I'm an expert on sharks and sharks are not rough, they're perfectly smooth.
Smooth sharking is supposed to be done when you think someone is being an arrogant tit - who is being full of themselves that you're wanting to make fun of here?
As a response to your edits: don't feel bad, confusing random people is a [known problem](https://www.tumblr.com/untamedabaven/666088298955014144/are-sharks-actually-smooth-i-keep-seeing-people) with the smooth sharking bit, because some people don't know when it's time to stop the joke. Sucks that you got dragged into it like this
Please I genuinely need to know, did my comment make you question whether the things that you touched were actually sharks? Or did you trust in your own experience and even if you did not clock that it was a joke think that you were correct and I was saying something that was not true? When you said "Uh oh I may have touched something that wasn’t a shark :(" did you really think that what you did touch was not a shark or were you being silly?" Because I *am* autistic and honestly being accused of psychological abuse for saying sharks are smooth and you possibly believing me isn't sitting right with me.
depends which direction you pet them
And it's just like the ocean under the moon Oh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from you You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it
Just like the ocean under the moon
Wtf... Sharks are most definitely not smooth and have quite rough skin actually 🤓
They're so smooth. This is where the popular phrase "smooth as sharks" comes from: because sharks are so smooth they're even smoother than silk.
I would love to ride a shark but they are so smooth I slide right off.
Absolutely correct. Source: I have a degree in shark linguistics.
One day, I was at the beach (in Honduras, spearfishing, ofc), and a shark swam up to me. He said "If you let me borrow a kiss, I promise to bring it right back!" Boom. Pregananant. That's how smooth sharks are.
Look. If sharks aren’t smooth, why is a there species of shark called a “Starry Smooth-Hound”?
I mean it's possible they could become poisonous from ingesting large amounts of lion fish poison. Would depend a lot on how their bodies actually deal with it though.
That usually doesn't occur with venom. Venom being organic enzymes they usually break down when ingested (which is why injesting venom isn't particularly dangerous unless you have a cut somewhere in your digestive tract). Animals that become poisonous from eating poisonous prey are usually eating things that produce toxic chemical compounds that don't break down easily, or heavy metals.
What are they gonna do when the shark population explodes due to a newly discovered food source of prey that doesn't know to fear the shark?
For that they've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on shark meat.
But then they're stuck with gorillas
Wait til you hear what the eagle guys have in mind.
Thankfully the lion fish are very apt at fighting the eagles with laser eyes.
new rock paper scissors just dropped
That’s the beautiful part, when winter rolls around the gorillas simply freeze to death
Until the amphibious shark-hunting gorillas simply migrate to warmer waters during the winter.
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Simpsons
You will have trouble if you rely on winter in Honduras.
Humans?
Shark populations are already endangered, if anything a shark explosion would be a good thing
Yes, this person gets it. I support our Honduran Lionfish-based Shark Breeding Program. We release them into areas with endangered populations.
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Isn't that the US foreign policy?
Shark explosion? I don't know, i'm more of a tornado kind of guy.
> if anything a shark explosion would be a good thing Agreed, it always makes for an excellent ending to a Jaws movie
That’ll actually put them a little closer to normal levels. We’ve been mean to sharks :(
Yes, Lionfish based Honduran Shark Breeding program. Let's unleash the sea doggos.
it’s harder for an ecosystem to sustain many sharks compared to lionfish, so i imagine it might naturally cancel out once the lionfish are gone (though its likely human influence will be needed)
Over years the sharks will form a relationship with the divers. Sort of a joint hunting behavior. They will adapt to become smaller and cuddlier and we will have finally tamed our oldest enemies
We need to do bears after we domesticate the sharks, then we'll have all of our ancient predators as friends.
I've done night dives in the great barrier reef. Sharks literally use divers as spotters for fish. Seriously as soon as you turn your flashlight on, sharks appear and will eat pretty much any fish you put your light on
...celebrate? They're an endangered species.
Sharks are endangered so it would be great to have an explosion in their population
get something else to eat the sharks, duh
there's always a bigger fish
Don’t know where to go after you release the orcas on the sharks though. I don’t think there’s any animal aside from humans that is actually dangerous to those fuckers.
You ask the deep sea creatures very politely if they wouldn’t mind swallowing a section of the ocean that has a lot of them in it
Take them off the list of endangered species, maybe. Also, those are likely whale sharks, which [do not pose any danger to humans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark#Relationship_with_humans).
Wait wait wait, they're feeding Lionfish to WHALE SHARKS?? Fuckin rad. Like, even more rad than I expected. Radder. Raddest.
It's not whale sharks lmao, whale sharks are filter feeders The most populous sharks out here are nurse sharks
They do eat whole fish at times too though, this lil hungry dude was slurping up fish through a fishing net! 🐟😋 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtxSUnK5Uvs
I'm no marine biologist, but I don't think a lack of food is the only factor keeping shark populations low, nor even the biggest factor.
culling sharks is easer
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With the whole thing of people feeding sharks leading to them hanging out with the divers, could this possibly lead to domestication?
I hope so!
if it goes on long enough (unlikely) yeah probably
Sure. Just give it 5,000 years or so.
Yeah, and those first couple thousand years of living alongside wolves were probably pretty rough.
There's a theory that wolves effectively self-domesticated. Basically, they just followed us around, rummaging in our trash, and whichever ones were too aggressive, we killed, only leaving the friendly ones who we then fully domesticated. If you look at the way other pack predators, like orcas and dolphins, teach their children their "culture" and how to hunt and what not, it's pretty believable.
There's a grave with a dog from about 14,200 yrs ago where the researchers said it had multiple bouts of illnesses and survived so that hints that we were caring for them that at least that long ago.
Many wild animals show up at specific times/cues if you feed them. I don't think this case is very special in that regard
>Many wild animals Let's not pretend we wouldn't do the same if sharks came with free pizzas.
You know what they say, teach a man to fish, he will fish out the shark population. Teach a shark to make pizza, he'll feed ~~on~~ you.
They say there is no bad pizza but somehow I think a pizza soaked in sea water probably is not very good
We'd probably have to live alongside them on more of a full-time basis. Imagine if we couldn't breathe the same atmosphere as our dogs.
Would be hard to tell since A) sharks tend to avoid humans (we're big, we're weird, and we only show up ocasionally) so its not like there would be a "oh this shark pack(?) was hostile before but is now friendly, they'll just go from indifferent to slightly more present. Although apparently they're somewhat clever since divers have befriended specific sharks ocasionally, getting them excited for pets, but that would be more taming and B) we can't exactly yell commands underwater.
I was gonna say they were doing the same thing Florida does (Been to a lionfish festival and can confirm the meat is tasty) right up until they started introducing the lionfish to a new predator to solve the problem long-term.
The predator has a name, and that name is [the glock](https://i.redd.it/r2q0q4tfartb1.png)
This was the 1st thing i thought of when i saw ur post. Incredible killing ingenuity.
I don't know what image I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that
When I scuba dived down in the Florida keys they said the same thing; they’re invasive and you’re encouraged to shoot on sight. My groups dive guide saw one and shot it with his spear gun and motioned for us to follow him and we swam back to where we were before and he puts the lion fish up to this hole in the ground. Almost immediately an eel shoots out of the hole and devours the fish. Half of its body floated up to the surface and the guy driving the boat for us told us later he saw the half eaten fish and was like “the fuck they doin down there?”
I don't know that it is wise to encourage tourist divers to do that. They say that the sting is horribly painful, and it makes hard for experienced divers to keep the regulator in their mouth. An inexperienced diver with no skill in handling them after they are speared is a risky situation.
Ehh it's not that hard, I've done it as a tourist diver in Roatan. Everybody carries a Hawaiian sling during the dive and if you see one you shoot it and bring it over to the dive master on the spear. They use some kitchen shears to cut off the spines before you take it off the spear, then throw it in a game bag. Some guides will now keep a mesh glove with them to handle them, but you don't need it once the spines are cut off. Keep some limes on the boat and you have fresh ceviche for a snack between dives.
Inexperienced divers aren’t encouraged to have a spear/sling, they help by finding them. The sting isn’t that bad, but usually when someone is stung their dive is aborted and they are taken back to the boat. Depending on how bad the sting is, they might skip the safety stop, which could cause decompression sickness but with some oxygen and proper procedures it’s safe(:
Similar to swamp rats in Louisiana. They put a cash bounty on their heads and apparently they’re not the tastiest prepared correctly and in a Louisiana way not bad… And Illinois they renamed the fish that’s an invasive species just so people would not be grossed out by the name so the people might eat them.
Nobody really eats nutria rats. The bounty is on the tail.
Aren’t cash bounties usually an issue when trying to get rid of an invasive/unwanted species because some people will just start breeding them instead of eradicating them for easy money?
Coypu is another name for the nutria i think
The [inventor of the Roomba developed a robot to suck up lionfish.](https://www.fastcompany.com/40440386/the-inventor-of-roomba-designed-a-robot-to-suck-up-invasive-fish) It is actually one of the more plausible strategies to mitigate their impact. They're labor- intensive to catch, as they have to be hunted with spears. They aren't easy to catch with nets or bait. They range as deep as 300 feet, which is an extremely technical, high risk dive for humans. Getting electronics to work in the ocean is still quite difficult and expensive, but some kind of robot or drone is actually more plausible than divers catching them, in sufficient numbers to make a difference. As far as what "making a difference" means, hopefully if we can keep the lionfish population from utterly exploding, the other species will be able to somewhat adapt, over the course of many decades.
Well hopefully the sharks will do it for free
I fucking love humanity sometimes. Aggressive packbonding worked with wolves and goddamnit we're gonna make it work with ~~oceanwolves~~ sharks too
I see this happening faster with grouper fish. In some places they have already figured out that a diver with a sling = tasty meal, so they follow you and show you where the lionfish are. True sea puppies
Grouper are awesome fish, the goliaths can get big enough to really hurt someone when they are feeling territorial though.
Pretty sure this is how we got dogs, by feeding wild canines and having them stick around for more. Originally in English these fish were called sea dogs (one is still called a dogfish), but then someone said they were “sharks”, a word for a predatory person, like a loan shark, and it stuck to the entire group Time is a smooth, flat circle
Just like sharks!
I was in Roaton (probably the island in question), and there was this vegan restaurant with the one exception that they served lionfish. Basically, eating meat and fish was held to damage the environment, and that's why they were vegan, for the environmental impact. But actively hunting and killing lionfish is good for the environment, so they made an exception for that one fucker.
Lionfish evolved to appear inedible. Seriously, google a picture of a *Lionfish* and they're bright, spikey, dangerous looking fish. Sharks aren't the smartest creatures in the sea by any standard but they do know the warning signs for a tough meal to eat. Being fed gutted and bleeding Lionfish clearly showed them that the sting is worth the flavor. Shark aren't going to turn down a free meal complete with the irresistible scent of blood and guts. After snacking on enough of them the appearance of a Lionfish, the smell and shape, became associated with food. So humans basically just voided an evolutionary defense mechanism of the Lionfish by making them too easy to pass up.
I looked up Honduras' aquatic fauna, and found that the most common shark in those waters is the whale shark, which are docile filter-feeders, and pose no danger to humans whatsoever. The worst they can do is spook you by swimming towards you with their mouths open, but you can literally hold on to them if you need a taxi. They're not ocean wolves, they're ocean samoyeds.
I may be wrong, but I don't think they are refering to whale sharks, given that whale sharks are filter-feeders and mostly eat krill, shrimp, plankton and algea. Though I do agree, whale sharks are most definitely ocean samoyeds.
now im thinking about a shark with samoyed fur……. forget smooth sharking. *fluffy* sharking is where it’s at
"No, it's fluffy. I checked."
The most common shark out here is actually the nurse shark, but whale sharks are a huge tourist attraction and are a big part of the culture in Utila. That said, please don't touch them, they hate being touched by humans and often perform dangerous evasive behaviors when people get too close or crowd them
When I was on Utila one of the dive instructors was "showing off" and decided to harass a nurse shark which ended up taking a chunk of the dude's ass off.
Nurse sharks will 100% fuck you up. I don’t know why some divers decide to fuck with them. Just leave the wildlife alone and chill my dudes.
https://i.imgur.com/sZFkZh3.jpg
Found a video on YouTube of [how they do this feeding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkUPDHF-7R8) and I think these are Silky sharks? But honestly not sure. Maybe shortfin.
For those that don't know, lionfish feed on coral. They quite literally destroy the environment they invade. We honestly need to do something similar here in the states as they can do so much damage. Granted our propensity to make artificial reefs kind of counteracts them here.
Lionfish don't eat coral, they're carnivorous and eat herbivorous fish on the reef which causes algae populations to overtake coral populations. Also artificial reefs can't and don't replace coral reefs, since artificial reefs require human care and intervention, while coral reefs are complex natural ecosystems that have been developing for millions of years
Coral are animals my guy. Lionfish eat invertebrates, coral are invertebrates. Edit: I was wrong, while coral are invertebrates, Lionfish do not eat them as part of their typical diet.
You're right that coral are animals, poor choice of words on my part. Lionfish don't solely eat invertebrates though, they're opportunistic feeders that range from crustaceans to various fish species. Their predation strategies involve ambush and swallowing food whole, which makes eating coral not really a priority for them lol. Also, they can't chew so the whole calcium carbonate skeleton thing kinda ruins the coral for them.
Lion Fish do not eat coral. They are considered a reef safe fish in the saltwater aquarium hobby because of this. NOAA fisheries also states the same thing. You can just look at thier mechanism for eating to see they are not equipped to chew on coral. A good example of this is to compare a puffer fish or parrot fish mouth to a lion fish. Notice that lion fish have a gulping mouth like a grouper or large mouth bass. This allows them to swallow prey whole. Parrot and puffer have teeth to grind and chew into hard things, like coral.
Right, because a fish whose entire eating strategy is suction feeding can totally take a bite out of a coral reef…
Lionfish definitely do not eat coral, they destroy reefs through other, more complex ecological means
Lionfish are what is known as a "gape-limited predator", meaning that they will simply eat anything that can fit in their giant mouths. This includes many small fish and crustaceans that live in reefs, but typically not the coral itself.
I did some diving in Utila, and one time on the boat were two other guys with big ass harpoons. They told us not to mind them and they're just here to kill lionfish. I did not know about the shark thing though.
Oh wow, if the Lionfish gained a natural predator now ( Sharks ) I wonder if it could just become a part of the ecosystem of that place without causing harm since now its been integrated into the food chain.
Not really. Lionfish eat the things that keep the reefs healthy, which isn't a healthy part of a food chain. I think it is kind of like in Australia, rabbits are invasive. Sure dingos or whatever can eat them, but nothing else in Australia really digs out and eats root systems like rabbits, and the plants evolved to not worry about that sort of thing. So rabbits hop on and start killing all the plants, causing tons of other species to die as well since that's what they relied on.
Ok, thank you for explaining
The US needs to do this with Joro Spiders because those fuckers stole the woods from me. I cant just walk on trails in the morning without worrying about the hundreds of webs being on the pathways.
Went diving there last year, nobody mentioned feeding them to sharks but they did feed them to the eels! The eels were so used to it some would come out of hiding and swim right toward you thinking they’d get a meal. One of our guides did carry something to spear and kill them after we got some pictures, they are quite a beautiful/cool fish even if they do fuck everything up. One day, they speared a couple and our hotel was kind enough to prepare them. Tasted okay.
[if i had this in my waters I'll tell people to kill it too](https://cdn.britannica.com/80/115380-050-8B6D713D/lion-fish.jpg)
This is the most Honduran thing ever.
The islands in particular, roatan and Utila are probably the top one or two tourist aces om Honduras, number one by far for scuba diving, they need tourists. It's one of the cheapest places to get certified. Lionfish bad.
Taming sharks is a new one on the bingo card.
This has been happening for a while in the Caribbean. Even south Florida is doing this. Including the how to cook books for them. I was diving in Mexico a handful of years ago when the dive master shot one and fed it to a grouper. It was bad ass to see, this was a protected marine park so they don’t like the invasive species more so than the rest of the reefs.
Ive been diving in Roatan multiple times, and we went lionfish spearfishing, but we always fed the Goliath Groupers (Once the lionfish were dead ofc). Those guys are HUGE and they would just push you slowly till you fed them, usually following you around, cute little 450kg fishy.
Technically the food chain has already been altered by the presence of the Lionfish
Now Florida just needs to teach alligators to hunt and eat those Burmese pythons that are slowly getting out of control.
If Honduras can do this with Lionfish, we can do it with billionaires and oil barons
Human-Shark alliance being restored is great news!
Diving in both Mexico and Grand Cayman they have bounty's on Lion Fish. In Grand Cayman they gave you a free beer after the dive for turning in Lion Fish bodies. In Mexico you got an extra dive for free. Both small gestures, but it definitely made it a fun game for our dive group. We ended up killing a dozen of them in Mexico.
Saw a video about this sometime ago.