# Would sharks act like this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320 "2013-08-15T15:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/1 "2013-08-15T15:57:51Z")
> **[The Gulf Stream (painting)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulf_Stream_(painting))** > > The Gulf Stream is an 1899 oil painting by Winslow Homer. It shows a man in a small dismasted rudderless fishing boat struggling against the waves of the sea, and was the artist's statement on a theme that had interested him for more than a decade. Homer vacationed often in Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean. > Homer crossed the Gulf Stream numerous times; his first trip to the Caribbean in 1885 seems to have inspired several related works dated from the same year, including a pencil drawing of a di... I’ve always wondered about the sharks in the foreground of Winslow Homer’s famous painting, _The Gulf Stream_. Is there something about the storm, the proximity of a possible meal (the poor guy in the boat), or some other factor that would make them stay on the surface like that, or was Homer just going for aesthetic impact? ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/2 "2013-08-15T17:12:46Z")
I’m no shark-ologist, but I’ve watched me some shark week on Discovery channel. Sharks don’t come out of the water, unless they’re specifically targeting a food item with their mouth. Dorsal fin protrusion excepted. MIRite? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/3 "2013-08-15T17:34:57Z")
> **[Great white shark | Breaching behaviour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark#Breaching_behaviour)** > > A breach is the result of a high-speed approach to the surface with the resulting momentum taking the shark partially or completely clear of the water. This is a hunting technique employed by great white sharks whilst hunting seals. This technique is often used on cape fur seals at Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa. Because the behaviour is unpredictable, it is very hard to document. It was first photographed by Chris Fallows and Rob Lawrence who developed the technique of towing a slow-movi... ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/4 "2013-08-15T19:25:41Z")
I’m no shark-ologist either, but I’ve had an interest in sharks ever since I was little. I’ve never seen sharks behave like that in any documentary. Sharks do occasionally come out of the water. The great white’s around Seal Island do it fairly regularly, as noted in PatriotX’s link (there are some cool youtube videos of that too) but that’s because the seals have learned a trick of following the coral underneath to stay safe from the sharks and then darting across the open water, and the sharks have countered this by staying low in the open part and racing up to the seals when they make their dash. Whether or not the shark actually gets the seal, his momentum is going to carry him up out of the water in a rather impressive breach. Sharks have accidentally jumped into boats going after fish as well, but that’s fairly rare. Sharks will come out of the water like that if they are in a feeding frenzy and there are a lot of fish near the surface. In the middle of a storm with waves though I can’t see it happening. These sharks are kinda doing it, but they are in a frenzy and you see more fish than sharks (and there’s no storm or serious waves): Little sharks in shallow water: And kinda off topic, but since it was mentioned, AIR JAWS: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lYHWSyY3E7M/hqdefault.jpg "Sharks Vs Seals - AirJaws") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYHWSyY3E7M) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/5 "2013-08-15T19:33:29Z")
Aesthetic impact. It’s not like Homer spent any time studying the habits of sharks, and he was consciously imitating works like “[Watson and the Shark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Watsonandtheshark-original.jpg).” Painters were not trying to come up with an accurate rendition of events (other than with things like faces), and often meant the works to be allegorical or to make a dramatic point. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/6 "2013-08-15T21:39:32Z")
Investigatory Behavior toward Surface Objects [http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/Investigatory\_Behavior\_toward\_Surface\_Objects\_etc\_White\_Shark\_Book.pdf](http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/Investigatory_Behavior_toward_Surface_Objects_etc_White_Shark_Book.pdf) [http://www.researchgate.net/publication/235672773\_Complexities\_of\_coastal\_shark\_movements\_and\_their\_implications\_for\_management/file/9fcfd512ac41d5be64.pdf](http://www.researchgate.net/publication/235672773_Complexities_of_coastal_shark_movements_and_their_implications_for_management/file/9fcfd512ac41d5be64.pdf) **Surface swimming** Surface swimming for prolonged periods (hours to days or weeks) is seen in certain coastal transient species, even where ‘diving’ behaviour is theoretically possible. This behaviour has been observed in whale (Wilson et al. 2006), white (Klimley et al. 2002, Bonfil et al. 2005, Bruce et al. 2006), tiger (Tricas 1981, Holland et al. 1999), and school sharks Galeorhinus galeus (West & Stevens 2001). Explanations for surface swimming include using the Earth’s dipole field and/or celestial signs to navigate, thermoregulate (Klimley et al. 2002) and feed on schools of prey at the surface by whale sharks (Colman 1997, Jarman & Wilson 2004, Graham & Roberts 2007). ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/7 "2013-08-15T21:49:29Z")
[http://wfcb.ucdavis.edu/www/faculty/pete/papers/EnvBioFish(2002)63\_117-135.pdf](http://wfcb.ucdavis.edu/www/faculty/pete/papers/EnvBioFish(2002)63_117-135.pdf) Thirdly, members of the three species swam at the surface for prolonged periods. Finally, the movements of the mako and white sharks were at times loosely associated with bottom topography. We discuss the various adaptive advantages that have been proposed for these behavioral patterns. Oscillatory swimming has been attributed to the following: (1) heating the body in the warm surface waters after swimming in cold, deep water, (2) alternating between two strata of water, one carrying chemical information as to its source, and deriving a direction to that stratum’s origin, (3) conserving energy by quickly propelling oneself upward with many tail beats and slowly gliding downward with few beats, and (4) descending to where magnetic gradients are steeper, more perceptible, and useful to guide migratory movements. At the surface, an individual would be able to swim in a straight line by using following features as a reference: (1) celestial bodies, (2) polarized light, or (3) the earth’s main dipole field. Furthermore, an individual would conserve energy because of the greater ease to maintaining a warm body in the heated surface waters. > **[great-white-shark.com](http://www.great-white-shark.com/shark-behaviour.html)** > > This domain may be for sale! **For this reason white sharks use displays in order to discourage other sharks. White sharks have been observed with their caudal fin out of the water slapping the surface, usually in the direction of a second shark. This “tail slap” is the most common avoidance display shown by white sharks.** ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/8 "2013-08-15T21:50:31Z")
So the sharks may be swimming there to be seen by the viewer. Or it may have been a phenomenon which Homer had witnessed at some point. Perhaps he intended for the sharks to be “fighting” over intended prey. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-sharks-act-like-this/666320/9 "2013-08-16T01:52:31Z")
Interesting. So it could be scientifically accurate. Thanks, folks.