Shrine Shark Week: Superman #162

The final Shark Week cover (two for the day, since Shark Week wraps up today) is from Superman #162 by Ed McGuinness and Cam Smith!

Shrine Shark Week: Sword of Atlantis #47

Today's Shark Week cover is from Aquaman Sword of Atlantis #47 by Butch Guice!

Aquaman Shark Gallery: Dennis Doucette

Just in time for Shark Week, F.O.A.M.er Dennis Doucette sent in this cute(?) piece of Aquaman spending some quality time with a shark.

Aside that it's just a nice drawing, to me this piece epitomizes what has always made Aquaman seem like a total bad ass to me: he here is, riding in the, ahem, jaws of a shark, looking like he doesn't have a care in the world. When, to me, this looks like the single scariest place to be in the entire world. Good on you, Aquaman, and good on you, Dennis!

Shrine Shark Week: Brightest Day #1

Today's Shark Week cover is from Brightest Day #1 by Ivan Reis!

Shrine Shark Week: Adventure Comics #444

Today's Shark Week cover is from Adventure Comics #444 by Jim Aparo!

Shrine Shark Week: Aquaman #34

Today's Shark Week cover is from Aquaman (Volume 7) #34 by Patrick Gleason and Christian Alamy!

Shrine Shark Week: Aquaman #22

Today's Shark Week cover is from Aquaman (Volume 5) #22 by Brian Steelfreeze!

Shrine Shark Week: Aquaman #3

This week is Shark Week, the Discovery Channel's annual celebration of all things toothy and mean. So we thought we'd get in on the party by posting a week's worth of Aquaman's greatest shark-related covers, starting with this classic by Kevin Maguire, from Aquaman (Volume 4) #3!

Shark Facts!

Random Shark Panel

--Some sharks can't reproduce until the age of 20 or above.

--There are 355 confirmed species of Shark ranging in length from 15cm to 15 meters.

--A fossil of a "cladoelache" is determined to be the oldest known ancestor of the Sharks. It is 350 million years old.

--The Megalodon shark is a prehistoric creature that lived millions of years ago. It is thought to have existed from 1.6 million back to 5 million years ago but some experts trace it back even further.*

(fossilized Megalodon tooth)

(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Andy Luckett and SharkInformation.org, except * and picture courtesy Wyrdology.com. Panel: JLA: Liberty & Justice by Paul Dini and Alex Ross)

Random Shark Panel

--Sharks have quite a few more senses than humans do. One comes from lateral line organs, which act like an internal barometer. When solid objects glide through the water, they create waves of pressure that a shark can feel with the sensitivity of a physical touch. By sensing these pressure waves, a shark can detect both the movement and direction of the object!

--It's possible that shark repellents could come from an unlikely source: magnets. Magnets in the water can interfere with a shark's electroreception. Don't just strap on some magnets and head to the beach, though. With current technology, sharks have to get very close to the magnets before they're affected.


(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Doug Zawisza and Discovery.com. Panel: More Fun Comics #82 by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris)

Random Shark Panel

"There is no animal on earth more vilified than the shark. Pop culture references and annual, over-hyped reports of attacks on swimmers or surfers have put sharks on the top of the list of the world's most feared living things.

There is however, a creature far more predacious than the shark: Humans."--CNN, "Shark Fin Soup Alters An Ecosystem"

(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Doug Zawisza and CNN.com. Panel: Aquaman (Vol.7) #39 by John Arcudi and Freddie Williams)

Random Shark Panel

--Two-thirds of a Sharks brain is dedicated to the sense of smell.

--The Whale Shark is the worlds biggest Shark and fish, coming in at an average of roughly 40 feet and 15 tons.

--In Germany and Japan, shark skin was used on sword handles for a non-slip grip.

--Great White Sharks can go up to three months without eating.

--Around 20 to 100 million sharks are killed by humans each year.



(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Andy Luckett and SharkInformation.org. Panel: Aquaman (Vol.7) #23 by John Ostrander and Chris Batista)

Random Shark Panel

--Like lions on land, sharks are at the top of the food chain in the underwater jungle, and their eating habits affect the populations of all sea life below them. Without large sharks, octopus populations would jump, which would then decrease the number of lobsters, since they are one of the octopus' favorite snacks.

--As sensational as shark attacks are in newspaper headlines, the reality is that you're more likely to be bitten by another person than a shark.


(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Doug Zawisza and Discovery.com. Panel: Adventure Comics #464 by Bob Rozakis and Don Newton)

Random Shark Panel

--A sharks skin is made of denticles--similar to thousands of small shark teeth. Rubbing it against the grain is like rubbing sandpaper.

--The most harmless sharks tend to be the largest, such as the Basking Shark, the Whale Shark and the Megamouth Shark.



(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Andy Luckett and SharkInformation.org. Panel: Brave and the Bold #82 by Bob Haney and Neal Adams)

Random Shark Panel(s)

--Sharks have the most powerful jaws on the planet.

--Sharks never run out of teeth--when one is lost another spins forward from the rows of backup teeth.

--A shark may use over 20,000 teeth during its life.

--The Great White Shark rarely partakes in feeding frenzies.



(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Andy Luckett and SharkInformation.org. Panel: Aquaman (Vol.4) #3 by Shaun McLaughlin and Ken Hooper)

Random Shark Panel

In a study published in March 2007, focused on the mid-Atlantic section of the United States, 11 species of sharks saw dramatic declines in their numbers (from 1972 to 2005). Those species and their noted declines are as follows:

"Declines in seven species range from 87% for sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus); 93% for blacktip sharks (C. limbatus); up to 97% for tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier); 98% for scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini); and 99% or more for bull (C. leucas), dusky (C. obscurus), and smooth hammerhead.

The remaining four elasmobranch-consuming great sharks were caught too rarely to detect trends from this survey. Two of those, great white (Carcharodon carcharias) and sand tiger (Carcharias taurus) sharks, were each caught only once and early in the UNC survey (in 1974 and 1978, respectively). The only survey that has caught enough sand tigers to note a trend targets sharks in Chesapeake Bay and suggests a decline of over 99% between 1974 and 2004."

The study goes on to note that the prey of the sharks studied, specifically 14 different species of ray, skates and smaller sharks experienced a population boom and in turn heartily attacked their prey - sea scallops. The cownose ray in particular is attributed with causing a depletion of scallops by fall of 1996. The scallop industry plummeted, and the scallops, with their quantities depleted were unable to perform their role in the circle of life. Scallops filter ocean water.

While people may fear sharks or not like sharks for the alleged damage sharks cause other species, it is worth noting that the sharks fill a very necessary role in the ecosystem. Take one piece out and it all begins to fall apart.

The stunning thing to me is that it was just one species of shark with a marked decline, it was eleven different species. The least significant decline over the course of the thirty year study was 87%. Think about that. Imagine 87% of your neighborhood being wiped out, or 87% of your food source, employer, or income. Devastating when it's put in those terms, isn't it? Sharks serve a purpose and mankind needs to realize that before it's too late and we're all snacking on cownose rays because that's all there is.

--Ransom A. Myers, Julia K. Baum, Travis D. Shepherd, Sean P. Powers, Charles H. Peterson; Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean; Science, March 2007

(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Doug Zawisza and Science magazine. Panel: Aquaman (Vol.7) #2 by Rick Veitch and Yvel Guichet)

Random Shark Panel

--There is an enormous market for shark fins in many areas of the world, resulting in a barbaric practice called shark finning. Shark finning involves landing a shark on a boat, cutting off its fins while its alive, and then kicking the body back into the ocean to drown. The fins are primarily used for shark fin soup, and this practice has drastically dropped the number of many species worldwide.


(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Andy Luckett and SharkFacts.org. Still: Superman: The Animated Series, "A Fish Story")

Aquaman and Shark by Samantha Zawisza

This is the other shark-themed Aquaman sketch sent to us by F.O.A.M.er Doug Zawisza to celebrate Shark Week.

This colorful portrait of Aquaman is by Samantha Zawisza, age 8, and Doug has some behind-the-scenes notes on its creation:

"Funny note about Samantha's drawing: she drew the hands first with flesh colored marker then drew the gloves over the hands. I asked her if she was drawing the hands before drawing the gloves. She gave me this near-offended look, and said, 'Yeeeeessss.' As though it could never be done any other way..."

As if! Thanks Doug and Samantha!

Random Shark Panel

--Scientists can determine the age of a shark by counting the rings that form on its vertebra, much as you can count the rings on a tree to tell its age.

--Sharks’ wounds heal quickly and they rarely get tumors. (This is why many scientists are studying shark physiology closely as a possible source of cancer cures.)

--Pigs kill more people every year than sharks do.

---Sharks are apex predators of the world's oceans--meaning they act as the stabilizing force against massive population explosions of animals further down the food chain.


(Shark Facts courtesy F.O.A.M.er Andy Luckett and SharkFacts.org. Panel: Adventure Comics #444, by Paul Levitz and Jim Aparo)