On June 6, 1964, Frank Mundus harpooned a 4,500-pound great white shark. It took five harpoons linked to large barrels to tire the fish out enough so they could get a line on the tail and tow it back to port. When they arrived, a bulldozer was needed to get the fish on shore and it was still alive. This was a monster fish. There is a photograph of the jaws opened wide that completely encompass seven men standing up and there is still three to four feet above their heads before reaching the top of the jaw.

Mundus is the man that Peter Benchley patterned the captain in Jaws after -- Mundus he thought the film was mostly fiction and he
doesn't like fiction. He became the expert great white fisherman almost by accident. He was working charter fishing cruises in his boat the Cricket off Montauk Point. During th e early fifties, the Long Island Railroad ran a special train in the morning out to the point to accommodate weekend lemmings who flocked (definitely a mixed metaphor) and stampeded to the fishing boats for a day of what was called sportfishing. Always looking for a gimmick, he realized once after a customer had a great time landing a mako shark by accident - shark fishing was looked on with great condescension - that it could be a lot
of fun. He then advertised "monster fishing." They went out, fished for sharks, the customers had a wild time, everyone discovered the meat was tasty, and a new sport was born with Mundus the guru.

The great white is an interesting beast. Oophagenic, they are among a small number of species whose offspring battle for survival while in the womb, the stronger eating the weaker. They enter the world with "malice aforethought" - the original Nazi. In addition to sight, they find their prey by sound, They can feel pressure waves along their flanks. They have a keen sense of smell and can also sense electrical impulses. Along the snout are jelly filled pores called "ampullae of Lorenzini" that act as minute electrical charge detectors. These may also help the shark navigate.

This is the worst designed book I have ever seen. But it's interesting. ( )