shark bites

how come shark divers that are wearing the steel mesh suits don’t get broken arms when the shark bites them? I realize why they don’t get cut, but I think force is force. They should have a broken arm!

Yeah… if a large shark decides to take a nibble, they would get some bones mashed. At least they still have an arm!

Sharks have very effective teeth. There’s no need for them to also have powerful jaws. Furthermore, their skeleton is made of cartilage rather than bone, so there’s some yield in their chomp.

This is just somebody’s take on it, but it seems he has a little knowledge to back it up. He must know something if he can use a word like gnathodynamometer, right?:slight_smile:

Sharks DO have a very powerful bite and their jaws are in fact composed of bone. Usually when people are bitten it’s only a gentle “warning bite” to tell the person to leave, an expeimental tasting, or a case the shark mistaking the person for something else and in thsese cases they don’t bite with full force and let go right away.

I’d be interested in a cite for that. I haven’t found anything that indicates their bite is of bone-breaking strength.

That’s just wrong. Every source states that their entire skeleton is made of cartilage. Now, I did find that there are various degrees of calcified reinforcement in their jaws, making them more bonelike. Still, the jaws aren’t as hard and stiff as actual bone.

It would depend on the size of shark and the size of bone being bitten (:rolleyes: ). You see great whites taking chuncks out of surf boards, which I would suspect requires more than just sharp teeth since boards don’t slice nicely like meat does. Not sure if I’d want to test the strength of my rib cage in a set of jaws that I could crawl into, even if all the teeth were removed. But I don’t think a 3 foot shark could crush your femur.

About Shark Bite Stregth.

Did you read the thread, Q.E.D.?:rolleyes:

I missed a link. So sue me.

From here:

Shark bites are incredibly powerful. If any other animal holds the bite power record it’s only because larger sharks either break the measuring equipment when they bite it or they can’t be bothered to cooperate.

From my link above.

A shark’s bite is more devastating, because 1) it’s mouth is larger, and 2) because the teeth are sharper.

Really. Guess I better yield to the poster with the higher post count.

Up to that point there were 6 posts after the OP and one link. Not a large amount of reading.

And everything I found says **Gary T[//b] is correct about cartilage:

From here :

First of all Donkey, this isn’t a penis measuring contest. There’s no reason to “yield” to anyone and I don’t see how post count is a factor.

Now, from Merriam Webster::

I think shark’s jaws are much more accurately described as bone than as cartilage.

For some reason every authority in the field disagrees with that thought.

First of all Cis, what **Gary T ** just said.
Second, I quoted and cited a link in the 3[sup]rd[/sup] post in the thread, then [Q.E.D.] cited the same link 4 posts later. I took exception, he took exception to that. It’s been done before. Then he cites said link “From my link above”.
:rolleyes: to both of you.