The Encyclopedia of Sharks by Steve Parker Applauds Greenland Sharks

Summary: The Encyclopedia of Sharks, Firefly Book copyrighted 2008 by Quintet Publishing, by Steve Parker applauds Greenland sharks for their age, diet and range.

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

A Greenland shark qualifies as the largest fish ever caught from a kayak; on Monday, Sep. 1, 2014, Swedish kayak angler Joel Abrahamsson lured the Greenland shark with an 8-pound pollack (Pollachius virens) as bait that he dropped from his Jackson Big Rig fishing kayak, "Please Release Me . . .", into 1,600 feet of water less than one mile from Andørja (Northern Sami: Áttir), Troms county, northern Norway; Abrahamsson landed the shark with a Penn International 50VSX Trolling Reel, Berkley Whiplash Pro line and SharkBound rod after an hour and a half; Abrahamsson's Greenland shark was measured, alongside a boat staffed by marine scientists from Havfiskeinstitut Norge (English: The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research), at a length of 401 centimeters and a girth of 202 centimeters, with a formulaically calculated weight of 1,247 pounds and an estimated age of over 200 years, and then was released, according to fishing editor and writer Doug Olander in "Top 5 Biggest Fish Species Ever Caught on a Kayak," published Jan. 6, 2023, under Kayak Fishing Fun/How-To section on the Florida Sportsman website (https://www.floridasportsman.com/editorial/top-5-biggest-fish-ever-caught-from-a-kayak/467827), and according to kayak fishing editor and journalist Paul Lebowitz in "Shark Smashes Kayak Fishing Record - Joel Abrahamsson's gigantic 1,247-lb Greenland Shark is the heaviest fish ever caught on a fishing kayak," published Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, under the Travel section on Men's Journal website (https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/shark-smashes-kayak-fishing-record);
image of Abrahamsson's Greenland shark being measured alongside boat by marine scientists from Havfiskeinstitut Norge (English: The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research): Big Bass USA, via Facebook Jan. 6, 2025

The Encyclopedia of Sharks, Firefly Book copyrighted 2008 by Quintet Publishing, by Steve Parker applauds Greenland sharks for their age, diet and range even as these environmental agents act against ocean carrion.

Deep-water sharks such as Greenland sharks bide under Arctic ice even as the extreme pressure at their abodes bestows their "sluggish and flabby" (Parker:8) appearances. Large-bodied slowness confirms a 1,709-pound (775-kilogram) Greenland shark in 1987 as second record-breaking catch, after a 16.8-foot- (5.1-meter-) long, 2,664-pound (1.2-metric-ton) great white shark in 1959. Early 20th-century Scandinavians destined 30,000-plus Greenland sharks to shark-liver oil industrialists even as candles, cosmetics, leather-tanning, lighting fuel, lubricants, paints domicile minerals-, vitamin E-rich shark-liver oil.

Greenland-shark diet, power and size ensconce Somniosus microcephalus (Latin somniosus, "sleepy"; mīcrocephalus, "little-headed) in such local legends and local tales in Northernmost culture as Inuit legends.

Inuit (from Inukitut language ᐃᓄᐃᑦ [=inoit], "the people") folklore figures Greenland sharks feasting upon Inuit people even as Greenland sharks sometimes fought kayaks, never their occupants.

Their broad tails guide Greenland sharks into going suddenly from sluggish to swift speeds after such fast-swimming prey as salmon (Salmo salar) and squid (Ilex illecebrosus). . .

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Norwegian angler Terje Nordtvedt from Overhalla, Trøndelag county, central Norway, entered the International Game Fish Association's database with the Greenland shark that he found Sunday, Oct. 18, 1987; he dropped a herring as bait to a depth of 300 meters in Beistadfjorden, innermost arm of the Trondheimsfjord, an inlet of Norskehavet (Icelandic: Noregshaf; Faroese: Norskahavið; English: The Norwegian Sea), in west central Norway's Trøndelag county; after struggling for an hour and one-half, Nordtvedt reeled a Greenland shark, measuring 425 centimeters in length and weighing 775 kilograms (1,708 pounds 9 ounces) (Steve Parker, The Encyclopedia of Sharks, 2008: 23; IGFA World Records @ https://igfa.org/member-services/world-record/angler/Terje%20Nordtvedt); Nordtvedt's huge catch qualifies for third place in the International Game Fish Association's (IGFA) list of biggest fish ever caught in the world, according to Alt Om Fiske Oslovian journalist Chris Appleby in "De 10 største gjennom tidene IGFA-listene inneholder en rekke imponerende fisker tatt på stang. Her er de ti største. Til sammen veier de over 6 tonn - og den tredje største er fanget i Norge!" (The 10 largest of all time IGFA lists contain a number of impressive fish caught on rod. Here are the ten largest. Together they weigh over 6 tons -- and the third-largest was caught in Norway!), published Tuesday, April 28, 2009, under the Alt Om Fiske (All About Fishing) section on the Klikk website (https://www.klikk.no/produkthjemmesider/altomfiske/de-10-storste-gjennom-tidene-3238846);
Norwegian angler Terje Nordtvedt posing with his trophy find, a Greenland shark whose length of 425 centimeters (13.94 feet) and weight of 775 kilograms (1,708 pounds 9 ounces) qualifies for third place in IGFA's (International Game Fish Association) list of biggest fish ever caught in the world: WORLD Record Anglers, via Facebook Jan. 19, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

A Greenland shark qualifies as the largest fish ever caught from a kayak; on Monday, Sep. 1, 2014, Swedish kayak angler Joel Abrahamsson lured the Greenland shark with an 8-pound pollack (Pollachius virens) as bait that he dropped from his Jackson Big Rig fishing kayak, "Please Release Me . . .", into 1,600 feet of water less than one mile from Andørja (Northern Sami: Áttir), Troms county, northern Norway; Abrahamsson landed the shark with a Penn International 50VSX Trolling Reel, Berkley Whiplash Pro line and SharkBound rod after an hour and a half; Abrahamsson's Greenland shark was measured, alongside a boat staffed by marine scientists from Havfiskeinstitut Norge (English: The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research), at a length of 401 centimeters and a girth of 202 centimeters, with a formulaically calculated weight of 1,247 pounds and an estimated age of over 200 years, and then was released, according to fishing editor and writer Doug Olander in "Top 5 Biggest Fish Species Ever Caught on a Kayak," published Jan. 6, 2023, under Kayak Fishing Fun/How-To section on the Florida Sportsman website (https://www.floridasportsman.com/editorial/top-5-biggest-fish-ever-caught-from-a-kayak/467827), and according to kayak fishing editor and journalist Paul Lebowitz in "Shark Smashes Kayak Fishing Record - Joel Abrahamsson's gigantic 1,247-lb Greenland Shark is the heaviest fish ever caught on a fishing kayak," published Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, under the Travel section on Men's Journal website (https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/shark-smashes-kayak-fishing-record);
image of Abrahamsson's Greenland shark being measured alongside boat by marine scientists from Havfiskeinstitut Norge (English: The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research): Big Bass USA, via Facebook Jan. 6, 2025, @ https://www.facebook.com/BigBassUSA/posts/pfbid0CkeJdEdoPbgk5mUksTdiZ3Hm6NNhforY7j6MWjh6n6cJj3rvxuwTwH3i8RLgWVnLl;
Big Bass USA, via Facebook Jan. 6, 2025, @ https://www.facebook.com/BigBassUSA/photos/this-greenland-shark-is-the-largest-fish-ever-caught-on-a-kayak-it-was-caught-of/934247952059289/;
Joel Abrahamsson, via Facebook Sep. 1, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1479836825598697&set=ecnf.100007171801111; Joel Abrahamsson, via Facebook Sep. 1, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1479836825598697&set=a.1381647108751003

Norwegian angler Terje Nordtvedt from Overhalla, Trøndelag county, central Norway, entered the International Game Fish Association's database with the Greenland shark that he found Sunday, Oct. 18, 1987; he dropped a herring as bait to a depth of 300 meters in Beistadfjorden, innermost arm of the Trondheimsfjord, an inlet of Norskehavet (Icelandic: Noregshaf; Faroese: Norskahavið; English: The Norwegian Sea), in west central Norway's Trøndelag county; after struggling for an hour and one-half, Nordtvedt reeled a Greenland shark, measuring 425 centimeters in length and weighing 775 kilograms (1,708 pounds 9 ounces) (Steve Parker, The Encyclopedia of Sharks, 2008: 23; IGFA World Records @ https://igfa.org/member-services/world-record/angler/Terje%20Nordtvedt); Nordtvedt's huge catch qualifies for third place in the International Game Fish Association's (IGFA) list of biggest fish ever caught in the world, according to Alt Om Fiske Oslovian journalist Chris Appleby in "De 10 største gjennom tidene IGFA-listene inneholder en rekke imponerende fisker tatt på stang. Her er de ti største. Til sammen veier de over 6 tonn - og den tredje største er fanget i Norge!" (The 10 largest of all time IGFA lists contain a number of impressive fish caught on rod. Here are the ten largest. Together they weigh over 6 tons -- and the third-largest was caught in Norway!), published Tuesday, April 28, 2009, under the Alt Om Fiske (All About Fishing) section on the Klikk website (https://www.klikk.no/produkthjemmesider/altomfiske/de-10-storste-gjennom-tidene-3238846);
Norwegian angler Terje Nordtvedt posing with his trophy find, a Greenland shark whose length of 425 centimeters (13.94 feet) and weight of 775 kilograms (1,708 pounds 9 ounces) qualifies for third place in IGFA's (International Game Fish Association) list of biggest fish ever caught in the world: WORLD Record Anglers, via Facebook Jan. 19, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=636605469779174&id=486801398092916&set=a.636603859779335;
WORLD Record Anglers, via Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=636605469779174&set=a.636603859779335

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"Ord. III. ABD. G 37. Squalus. *29. MICROCEPHALUS. S. capite et pinnis parvis, dentibus parvis, compreſſis, acie lata, hamata, naribus terminalibus, pinna dorſali paulum poſt baſin pectoralium, meſsura poſt ventralium lineam perpendicularem poſita, omnibus remotiſſimis, ano pinnae caudali vicino, cauda brevi.
Habitat in mari glaciali.
Exemplum meum 13 pedes longum."
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