# Could a shark live on pastrami only? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816 "2016-07-24T23:52:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/21 "2016-07-25T18:44:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Herbivores and carnivores have similar requirements for protein. Herbivores just have to eat more (or especially protein-rich) plant material to get it (or else they have to grow slower). Huh. Never seen that so concisely and clearly put. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/22 "2016-07-25T18:55:25Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > because carnivorous animals need more than just “meat.” you’re forgetting that many/most of them consume their _entire_ prey, including the internal organs (which concentrate a lot of vitamins/micronutrients) and the contents of their prey’s digestive system. > > it’s like cats, people hear they’re obligate carnivores and think that means they can “only eat meat.” which is wrong, they do consume plant matter. they just let their prey partially digest it for them. Of course a shark needs more than just meat. That’s where the seeded rye and mustard come in. And a dill pickle. Gotta have a pickle. And don’t forget some cole slaw and a Cel-Ray. Or perhaps and egg cream. The sharks will be begging for more. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/23 "2016-07-25T19:25:16Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > :eek: or :mad: or :o or 😛 > > Either way, no fair! If that’s how you feel about honest attempts to answer your questions, I’ll remember that before answering your questions in the future. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/24 "2016-07-25T19:26:02Z")
Of course not; they’d suffocate waiting in line for their sandwich. Even so, would they eat the pickle, too? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/25 "2016-07-25T19:30:10Z")
Wait, it was friendly!!! I posted it that way because God knows my posts/mind/questions are confused to begin with, and by editing my rough draft within the time window, I tried to clear away _another_ part of intellect-query backstory, which _even I_ thought was either too stupid in context of more important question, or side-tracking, or just simply wrong-- _all_ of which I decided was in my (now)-infamous and unrecorded Point 2). That’s all… I wouldn’t have posted snark in response to you. ETA: to **Qadgop** #23 above. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/26 "2016-07-25T19:37:01Z")
A planet made entirely of pastrami? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/27 "2016-07-25T19:40:21Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > in my (now)-infamous and unrecorded Point 2). But deep beneath the sea of the Planet of the Zwilniks, **Qadgop the Mercotan** records and remembers . . . Very well. I will perchance ponder your future queries. **IF** it so amuses me. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/28 "2016-07-25T20:49:44Z")
KNOCK KNOCK! “Who’s there?” “Salami Shark!” “Oh, thank goodness, I only have pastrami. One moment …” Duh Dum Duh Dum Duh Dum … ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/29 "2016-07-26T06:58:32Z")
Seems to me the question is a matter of calculating the nutrients available in pastrami, and comparing them with the nutrients required for sharks. The former is easy to find, so we need someone to post about the latter. To get that started, I will posit that a shark probably has the same nutritional requirements that we do except that they may make things within themselves that we don’t make, or not make things we do make. So perhaps looking at that would be useful. For example, do they make Vitamin C? not a lot of that in Pastrami. But a lot of animals do, even though we don’t. If they don’t, either, then pastrami would not work. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/30 "2016-07-26T07:50:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Seems to me the question is a matter of calculating the nutrients available in pastrami, and comparing them with the nutrients required for sharks. The former is easy to find, so we need someone to post about the latter. > > To get that started, I will posit that a shark probably has the same nutritional requirements that we do except that they may make things within themselves that we don’t make, or not make things we do make. So perhaps looking at that would be useful. > > For example, do they make Vitamin C? not a lot of that in Pastrami. But a lot of animals do, even though we don’t. If they don’t, either, then pastrami would not work. That’s what the banana peppers are for. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/31 "2016-07-26T13:30:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Seems to me the question is a matter of calculating the nutrients available in pastrami, and comparing them with the nutrients required for sharks. The former is easy to find, so we need someone to post about the latter. > > To get that started, I will posit that a shark probably has the same nutritional requirements that we do except that they may make things within themselves that we don’t make, or not make things we do make. So perhaps looking at that would be useful. > > For example, do they make Vitamin C? not a lot of that in Pastrami. But a lot of animals do, even though we don’t. If they don’t, either, then pastrami would not work. See post #12. Have at it… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/32 "2016-07-26T15:04:41Z")
Whole thread has turned into a shark sandwich . . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/33 "2016-07-26T15:16:02Z")
Openfaced Mako, when quoted uncited. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/34 "2016-07-26T15:36:34Z")
I was thinking of the album by Spinal Tap . . . ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/35 "2016-07-26T15:42:44Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I was thinking of the album by Spinal Tap . . . _Silent But Deadly_ would also fit… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/36 "2016-07-26T16:43:07Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Whole thread has turned into a shark sandwich . . . > > 😉 > > > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > > > Openfaced Mako, when quoted uncited. > > > > > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > > > > > I was thinking of the album by Spinal Tap . . . _Openfaced Mako_ (Hammerhead, 1980): Bootleg album. Outtakes from Shark Sandwich sessions, including studio banter. Includes never-released XXX version of “Sex Farm.” cite: [Spinal Tap A to Zed : Openfaced Mako](http://www.spinaltapfan.com/atozed/TAP00381.HTM) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/37 "2016-07-26T16:45:56Z")
Also standard offering on Trinidad. Article and sample recipe: [The Best Shark Sandwich in Trinidad](http://www.caribjournal.com/2013/08/07/the-best-shark-sandwich-in-trinidad/) ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/38 "2016-07-26T16:51:45Z")
For my grad school work, I studied salmon food chains in the open ocean. There’s a species of shark called - the Salmon Shark - whose diet for large amounts of time is, you guessed it, salmon. These salmon (large adult salmon - the sharks follow the returning runs) feed mainly on squid, and the squid feed mainly on crustaceans - krill and copepods - and finally those crustaceans feed on phytoplankton. So the Salmon Sharks are 3 jumps from plants, so not a lot of direct “pre-digested” plant consumption going on. They eat the whole salmon of course. While I don’t know their nutrient requirements, if nothing else, they get a good dose of carotenoids that way. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/39 "2016-07-26T17:18:44Z")
Username–grad school suggests this topic is your bread and butter. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816/40 "2016-07-26T20:10:36Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > _Openfaced Mako_ (Hammerhead, 1980): Bootleg album. Outtakes from Shark Sandwich sessions, including studio banter. Includes never-released XXX version of “Sex Farm.” > > cite: [Spinal Tap A to Zed : Openfaced Mako](http://www.spinaltapfan.com/atozed/TAP00381.HTM) Gotta get me that version of “Sex Farm”!! Locate a copy for me and I’ll even think of you in terms of Leopold instead of Leo. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-shark-live-on-pastrami-only/760816.md?page=3)