The Sand Tiger Shark

Children's Literature - Judy Crowder

Off the coast of North Carolina lies a popular diving site: the wreck of the ship Dixie Arrow, sunk by the Germans in 1942. But when divers descend to the wreck, they may encounter another animal that favors shipwrecks: sand tiger sharks. While this encounter may add to the thrill of the dive, sand tiger sharks are rarely aggressive. They like this site as a meeting place and may come back every year to the same spot. Also called grey nurse sharks, spotted ragged-tooth sharks, or just sand sharks, these large ocean dwellers are formidable looking, with their huge bodies and jagged rows of teeth, plus the fact that they often swim with their mouths open. This book, part of Scholastic Pilot's "Shark File Facts" series, features easy-to-read text, color close-up illustrations and charts all full of information. Some most intriguing and perhaps less-known facts are these: females only give birth every few years; they have two uteruses filled with many eggs; and the largest pup hatches and eats smaller pups and remaining eggs, so that the mother gives birth to only two pups. Also, sand tiger sharks are the only sharks known to float motionless. They do this by swallowing air at the water's surface and this makes them buoyant. The book contains plenty of information about habitat, feeding behavior, and how threatened they are by humankind—even though sand tiger sharks are protected in some parts of the world, some countries still catch them for their fins, skin, jaws and teeth and liver oil, or just the thrill of catching a shark. The book includes a glossary of words printed in bright green throughout the text, special facts boxed in green along the way, a book list, internet sites and index. Reviewer: Judy Crowder