Third ave. encounter

From: Francois Jouaux (fjouaux@apple.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Wed May 13 1998 - 19:22:53 PDT


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To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: Third ave. encounter
Date: Wed, 13 May 98 19:22:53 -0700
From: Francois Jouaux <fjouaux@apple.com-DeleteThis>
Received: by Apple.Mailer (2.82)

Hi,

I talked about this with Ed Scott and he thinks I have been smoking
so here is my story.
Saturday was a great day at third, and I was zooming around in waist
deep water when I saw something like a plank of wood sticking out of
the water. I went around it, and guess what, it was no wood, it was
a shark fin !
I was quite surprised and jibed towards it again.

This time I took a better look and the size of the beast was no way
near Jaws, so I jumped off my board. The animal did not seem bothered
by the spash at all. It was about 4 feet long, going around and
around (I kept my board between it and me, feeling secure...).
Sometimes only the fin was out, sometime the whole back from the head
to the tail would show. It was brown with plenty of black spots : a
leopard shark, I am sure of that. Look on the web at
http://www.underwaterworld.com/sharks/shark1.htm or
http://www.sduk.com/mzoo/st_2749.htm for examples of leopard sharks.
It says they grow to more than 7 feet in the San Francisco Bay. This
one had a head about one foot wide already, so when it would come
towards me, I spashed and it would start going around again. I felt
uncomfortable when it dived for too long...

Then my friend Patrice showed up, and stopped on the other side of
the shark, and we stayed there for 10 minutes watching it. We waved
to people to come check it out but they were either too busy flying
around or thought we were nuts shooting Shark !

Now, I have never seen a shark on the coast. I hear so many people
say, "Oh, I won't sail at the coast, because of the sharks!". I have
seen seals, and one big sturgeon at third, and a small dead shark on
the beach at Coyote pt one time. But it was interesting watching a
real live shark mind its own business among us. I just hope noone hit
it with his fin.

Plus I have a witness. Ed claims on the same day he saw a seal jump
completely out of the water in the channel : only whales jump like
this, Ed.

-Francois

>From one of the web sites on Leopard sharks :

Obvious, ominous markings reminiscent of its namesake land-dwelling
predator make the shy leopard shark a standout. Its light gray body
sports big, bold, black bars across its back, with scattered black
leopard-like splotches on its leopard shark sides.
Sometimes seen resting on sandy bottoms and mud flats by divers, the
leopard shark is a shallow water, inshore shark that travels the
intertidal zone from surface to 15 feet deep. Leopard sharks may bury
their faces in the sand or mud to feed on worms, shrimp and clams.
Crab, small fish and fish eggs are also favorite fare.
Leopard sharks use the San Francisco Estuary as a nursery, and are
commonly seen here in Spring and Summer. They mature slowly, living
up to 20 years, with some individuals growing up to seven feet long.
Leopard sharks are "ovoviviparous", giving birth to 4 to 30 live pups
per litter, hatched from eggs sheltered inside mother shark's body.
 



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