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Show Sharks, Other Salt Water Fish Abound in Nicaraguan Lake Lake Nicaragua in the Central American country of the same name is the only place where sharks are found in fresh water, so far as science sci-ence knows. Sawfish, tarpon and other big salt-water species also live in this oval, 100-mile-long lake, 105 feet above the level of the nearby Pacific. Geologists believe it was a bay of the Pacific until an earthquake earth-quake heaved up land to lock out the sea. Streams and springs in this region of very heavy rainfall gradually gradu-ally turned the lake water fresh. Luis Marden, National Geographic Magazine staff writer, caught three specimens of the shark for the U. S. National museum by the time-tested method of the region. First, he took a silvery, five-pound machaca on a fly rod. baiting his hook with fried banana. Then, fishing in 11 feet of water from an anchored canoe, within sight of the San Carlos docks, he baited a heavy, chain-leadered shark hook with a large chunk of the machaca, and cast his stout, sash-cord sash-cord fishing line into the water. Within five minutes the fisherman from the north had a strike. In a few more minutes he had subdued a 158-pound shark, too large for the alcohol al-cohol drum in which specimens were to be shipped to the museum. But strikes came easily, every five to ten minutes. Three sharks were caught for the museum, weighing 98, 76 and 48 pounds. They are the first complete specimens of Nicaragua's Nica-ragua's fresh-water sharks in any scientific institution. |
