Killers of the Deep

Jimmy and Sean had never been on a boat before, which is surprising considering they lived in Florida. They're on their way to the shark preserve off the coast because their class had won an essay contest. The topic was on sharks and not only did their class win but Sean took first place and Jimmy took second. On their way over the boys were enjoying their moment as the smartest kids in class, although they had mainly talked about how sharks were fast or had a lot of teeth. What else would you expect from couple 4th graders?

As they arrived at the facility, the class saw many tanks with all different species of sharks. Some had lines on them, others were weird shaped, and some were gigantic to the eyes of 9 year old. Upon arriving they met their tour guide Chad, who was excited to take them through all the exhibits. Chad was a tall skinny man in his early 20s with long brown hair. His dark tan would lead you to believe that he spends most of his time on the water than on land.

“Hey guys are you all excited to see some sharks?!”

Jimmy and Sean jumped to the front of the group, eyes wide and smiles wider. Everyone followed Chad into the first exhibit.

“Can anyone tell me what kind of sharks these are?” Chad asked the class.

Jimmy raise his hand. “Those are great whites. They can swim as fast as 35 mph!”

Chad smiled and looked at Jimmy “That's right! Great White sharks also grow up to 2400 pounds and have 50 individual teeth.”

Everyone's mouth dropped when they saw the shark swim closer to the edge of the tank. A lot of wows and cools came from the crowd. Sean couldn't take his eyes off the tank.

“Is this the same shark from jaws?” he asked Chad.

“It's not the exact same one but it's the same species that they were using in the movie.”

Jimmy and Sean looked at each other “This is so cool! We just met jaws!”

Chad smacked his palm through his face. “All right let's move on to the next tank!”

The class moved from one room to the next which had another tank in it holding a different species of shark. Chad looked over the class.

“Can anyone guess what we call this shark?”

Sean noticed distinctive markings on it immediately raised his hand.

"Those are tiger sharks. You can tell from the stripes on the sides."

Chad looks surprised “Wow you guys know a lot about your sharks. What else do you know about tiger sharks?”

“Tiger sharks are really cool. They're like the Great White sharks in that they attack humans and only the Great White sharks have attacked more humans than the tiger sharks.”

The smiles on Jimmy and Sean's faces kept growing.

Chad was starting to sense a pattern though. “That's true, both great white sharks and tiger sharks have attacked the most amount of people out of any other species of shark but did you know that they like to swim in warmer waters? Which is where I would wanna be if I was a shark.”

The rest of the class seemed to like tiger sharks. The markings on their sides made them interesting compared to the great white sharks. Chad began to move away from the tank.

“OK on to the next shark!”

Jimmy and Sean led the way for the class. They were both curious on which was the next shark they were about to see.

“Jimmy watch shark did you write your essay on?” Sean asked.

“The Great White, the first shark we saw. Which shark did you write your essay on?"

“The Tiger shark, the one we just saw. Which one do you think is next?”

The boys turned to see the third tank and could not believe it's a shark.

“Now can anyone tell me what kind of shark this is?” Chad looks around the class not surprised that none of them knew the answer.

Jimmy spoke first “That's a shark?”

Sean spoke next “It doesn't look very fast. Why is it just laying there?”

Chad smirked then looked at the tank. “This is called a nurse shark. These sharks are known to be slow moving bottom dwellers and compared to other sharks are mostly harmless to humans. There have been some confirmed attacks by nurse sharks but no one has ever died that we know of.”

Jimmy still looks confused. “What do they eat?”

“The same things as other sharks. Fish, an octopus or squid. They're like vacuums at the bottom of the ocean sucking up food at high speeds.”

Sean looked at Chad “So they’re not dangerous?”

Chad looked back at Sean. “Even though they have the lowest recorded number of attacks on humans, and we don’t think they’ve killed anyone, it's not a smart idea to think they are not dangerous. They are still sharks. You wouldn’t go up to one and start petting it would you?”

Sean and Jimmy’s eyes started to open wider. “Can we pet a shark!?” “Yea can we!?”

Chad shook his head and proceeded towards the next room. “OK, let's move on to the next tank.”

The tour went on and the class had a blast learning about all the different species of sharks. Next was the Lemon Shark, the most common shark seen swimming off the Florida coast, normally when they are mating. Then came the hammer head shark which is the most advanced shark. Finally came the Bull Shark. These sharks are the only species of shark that is known to swim into freshwater environments.

The tour ended at the gift shop like all great tours do. Chad said his goodbyes and walked back towards the front of the facility. Jimmy and Sean saw all the sharks as stuffed animals and couldn’t decide which one they wanted to buy. Sean chose the Hammer Head because he liked the shape of its head and Jimmy went with the Nurse Shark because he thought it's cool how it's like a vacuum underwater.

Leaving the Preserve, the boys were amazed at all the information they have learned from Chad. Their essays had been written on how dangerous and cool the Great White Shark and the Tiger Shark was. Now if they had to write them over, Sean would mention how Hammer Heads are the most advanced species of shark and Jimmy would talk about the Nurse Shark and how not all sharks are scary.