Sharks in Stories, Media, and Literature 215
Rays, and more. Most involve shooting the sharks with a variety of weap-
ons, a less-than-admirable goal. We can’t claim expertise in any of these.
Miscellaneous Cultural References. The English language has
sayings (like “swimming in shark-infested waters”), jokes (“Question: Why
don’t sharks attack lawyers? Answer: Professional courtesy”), and charac-
terizations that invoke sharks. “Card shark,” “pool shark,” and “loan shark”
all imply someone with nasty, predatory habits. Ketchikan, Alaska, artist
Ray Troll turned this characterization on its head with his rendition of
C. M. Coolidge’s famous early-twentieth-century series of paintings, Dogs
Playing Poker. Troll’s interpretation, called Card Sharks, depicts a table sur-
rounded by sharks in what appears to be a friendly game.
People who dive for a living—researchers; spearfishers; pearl, sea ur-
chin, and abalone divers—would just as soon not deal with sharks. They
have a number of ways of referring to these unwanted visitors. Research
divers refer to sharks, especially aggressive offshore species such as the
Galapagos Shark, as “the men in the grey suits.” An elder Palauan spear-
fisherman once told one of us (GH), “Sharks are like police. They only
show up when you least want them.”
Manta Rays and Chimaeras in Popular Culture. Sharks aren’t
the only elasmobranchs to receive attention in popular culture. Revered
in many other cultures, manta rays appear occasionally in Western culture
in various forms. The SeaWorld parks in Orlando and San Diego have
a roller coaster ride named “Manta,” in which a model of a manta takes
riders through twists, turns, and barrel rolls. In the 1970s the German
carmaker Opel produced a sports car called the Manta, whose front end
was supposed to at least recall the image of a manta’s face (??). The iconic
American sports car of our childhood was the Corvette Stingray.
Musically, an American alt-rock band named Pixies released songs ti-
tled “Manta Ray” and “Dancing the Manta Ray.” Another alt-rock group,
Ludo, recorded “Manta Rays” in 2010. Hollywood got in on the manta-as-
monster action in the 1930s with two movies, The Sea Bat (1930), starring
Boris Karloff before he became Frankenstein’s monster, and The Sea Fiend
(1936), later rereleased as Devil Monster (1946).
Among ichthyologists, a popular band that sings about chondrichthyan
fishes is The Ratfish Wranglers, out of Ketchikan, Alaska. Their leader,
artist Ray Troll, had a newly discovered chimaera named for him in appre-
ciation of his efforts in educating people about sharks and their relatives.
The Pointy-Nosed Blue Chimaera is unique in having a lavender color and
a longer-than-average nose. Troll’s nose is not much longer than average.