Show Business: JAWS-THE REAL THING

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Thus common sense suggests entering the shark's ocean domain discreetly, especially in temperate waters, where the majority of depredations occur (not necessarily because there are more sharks there, but because people congregate along mild shores). Rapid, erratic motion attracts sharks, as do contrasting colors closely juxtaposed. Thus an even tan—and a bathing suit to match—is a precaution. So is a smooth swimming stroke; and a calm disposition coupled with a cowardly nature helps. Sharks generally prefer to go after isolated swimmers rather than those who are grouped. Sometimes they just bump and run. Such tactics merely may be manifestations of curiosity rather than an invitation to a rumble, so experts advise staying still and saving your anger for dry land. You should fight only if the fish puts an unmistakably aggressive move on you. Then it should be barroom style, using any weapon, even risking a kicking leg or a flailing arm to the teeth that are, as the Bible says, "terrible round about." It is an awful, literally last-minute choice the creature offers—limb for life—and even then the sacrifice may be in vain. But the shark is congenitally erratic, and man is not necessarily so. It is the only advantage man has when he enters the element in which the shark's magnificent adaptation must compel admiration as well as awe. As a species, man has, after all, undergone thousands of adaptations in order to survive. As individuals, men improvise desperately in order to make it through the day. Sharks, so far, have found no need to do either.

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