Editing Shark (section)

===In culture===
[[File:Hells Angels, Flying Tigers 1942.jpg|thumb|Shark-themed [[nose art]], made popular by the [[Flying Tigers]] (pictured), is commonly seen on military aircraft.]]

====In Hawaii====
Sharks figure prominently in [[Hawaiian mythology]]. Stories tell of men with shark jaws on their back who could change between shark and human form. A common theme was that a shark-man would warn beach-goers of sharks in the waters. The beach-goers would laugh and ignore the warnings and get eaten by the shark-man who warned them. [[Hawaii]]an mythology also includes many shark [[god]]s. Among a fishing people, the most popular of all [[aumakua]], or deified ancestor guardians, are shark aumakua. [[Kamaku]] describes in detail how to offer a corpse to become a shark. The body transforms gradually until the [[kahuna]] can point the awe-struck family to the markings on the shark's body that correspond to the clothing in which the beloved's body had been wrapped. Such a shark aumakua becomes the family pet, receiving food, and driving fish into the family net and warding off danger. Like all aumakua it had evil uses such as helping kill enemies. The ruling chiefs typically forbade such sorcery. Many Native Hawaiian families claim such an aumakua, who is known by name to the whole community.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hm/hm11.htm
|title=Guardian Gods
|last=Beckwith
|first=Martha
|year=1940
|access-date=August 13, 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527085939/http://sacred-texts.com/pac/hm/hm11.htm
|archive-date=May 27, 2009
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

[[Kamohoalii|Kamohoali'i]] is the best known and revered of the shark gods, he was the older and favored brother of [[Pele (deity)|Pele]],<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/pele.html
| title = Pele, Goddess of Fire
| access-date = 2006-09-13
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060901045030/http://www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/pele.html
| archive-date = 2006-09-01
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> and helped and journeyed with her to Hawaii. He was able to assume all human and fish forms. A summit cliff on the crater of [[Kilauea]] is one of his most sacred spots. At one point he had a ''[[heiau]]'' (temple or shrine) dedicated to him on every piece of land that jutted into the ocean on the island of [[Molokai]]. Kamohoali'i was an ancestral god, not a human who became a shark and banned the eating of humans after eating one herself.<ref name=oahustories>{{cite web|url=http://apdl.kcc.hawaii.edu/~oahu/stories/ewa/kaahupahau.htm |title=Traditions of O'ahu: Stories of an Ancient Island |access-date=August 14, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918001834/http://apdl.kcc.hawaii.edu/~oahu/stories/ewa/kaahupahau.htm |archive-date=September 18, 2009 }}</ref><ref name=soh>{{cite book
|title=Sharks of Hawaii: Their Biology and Cultural Significance
|last=Taylor |first=Leighton R.
|publisher=University of Hawaii Press
|isbn=978-0-8248-1562-2
|date=November 1993}}</ref> In Fijian mythology, [[Dakuwaqa]] was a shark god who was the eater of lost souls.

====In American Samoa====
On the island of [[Tutuila]] in [[American Samoa]] (a [[Territories of the United States|U.S. territory]]), there is a location called [[Turtle and Shark]] (''Laumei ma Malie'') which is important in [[Culture of Samoa|Samoan culture]]—the location is the site of a legend called ''O Le Tala I Le Laumei Ma Le Malie'', in which two humans are said to have transformed into a turtle and a shark.<ref name="American_Samoa_NPS">{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/14000925.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025150009/https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/14000925.pdf |archive-date=2018-10-25 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - Turtle and Shark (American Samoa) |publisher=United States National Park Service |access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ryanwoodwardart.com/my-works/the-turtle-and-the-shark/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025153020/https://ryanwoodwardart.com/my-works/the-turtle-and-the-shark/ |archive-date=2018-10-25 |website=Ryanwoodwardart.com |title=The Turtle And The Shark |access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.janesoceania.com/samoa_legends/index.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128153339/http://www.janesoceania.com/samoa_legends/index.htm |archive-date=2018-11-28 |website=Janesocienia.coam |title=Samoa - Some Legends of Samoa |access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref> According to the [[U.S. National Park Service]], "Villagers from nearby [[Vaitogi, American Samoa|Vaitogi]] continue to reenact an important aspect of the legend at Turtle and Shark by performing a ritual song intended to summon the legendary animals to the ocean surface, and visitors are frequently amazed to see one or both of these creatures emerge from the sea in apparent response to this call."<ref name="American_Samoa_NPS"/>

====In popular culture====
{{Main|Sharks in popular culture}}

In contrast to the complex portrayals by Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, the European and Western view of sharks has historically been mostly of fear and malevolence.<ref name=Dean>{{cite book|author=Crawford, Dean|year=2008|title=Shark|publisher=Reaktion Books|pages=47–55|isbn=978-1861893253}}</ref> Sharks are used in popular culture commonly as eating machines, notably in the ''[[Jaws (novel)|Jaws]]'' novel and the [[Jaws (film)|film of the same name]], along with its [[Jaws (franchise)#Films|sequels]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292815843|title = Southern shark lore forty years after Jaws: The positioning of sharks within Murihiku, New Zealand|last1 = Jøn|first1 = A. Asbjørn|date = 2015|journal = Australian Folklore: A Yearly Journal of Folklore Studies|first2 = Raj S.|last2 = Aich|issue = 30}}</ref> Sharks are threats in other films such as ''[[Deep Blue Sea (1999 film)|Deep Blue Sea]]'', ''[[The Reef (2010 film)|The Reef]]'', and [[List of killer shark films|others]], although they are sometimes used for comedic effect such as in ''[[Finding Nemo]]'' and the ''[[Austin Powers (film series)|Austin Powers]]'' series. Sharks tend to be seen quite often in cartoons whenever a scene involves the ocean. Such examples include the ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' cartoons, ''[[Jabberjaw]]'', and other shows produced by Hanna-Barbera. They also are used commonly as a clichéd means of killing off a character that is held up by a rope or some similar object as the sharks swim right below them, or the character may be standing on a [[Walking the plank|plank]] above shark infested waters.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

====Popular misconceptions====
A popular myth is that sharks are immune to disease and [[cancer]], but this is not scientifically supported. Sharks have been known to get cancer.<ref>{{cite journal
|author=Finkelstein JB
|title=Sharks do get cancer: few surprises in cartilage research
|journal=Journal of the National Cancer Institute
|volume=97
|issue=21
|pages=1562–3
|year=2005
|pmid=16264172
|doi=10.1093/jnci/dji392|doi-access=free
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|author1=Ostrander GK |author2=Cheng KC |author3=Wolf JC |author4=Wolfe MJ |title=Shark cartilage, cancer and the growing threat of pseudoscience
|journal=Cancer Research
|volume=64
|issue=23
|pages=8485–91
|year=2004
|pmid=15574750
|doi=10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-2260|doi-access=free
}}</ref> Both diseases and [[parasites]] affect sharks. The evidence that sharks are at least resistant to cancer and disease is mostly [[anecdotal]] and there have been few, if any, scientific or [[statistical]] studies that show sharks to have heightened immunity to disease.<ref>{{cite magazine
| url = http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0820_030820_sharkcancer.html
| title = Do Sharks Hold Secret to Human Cancer Fight?
| magazine = National Geographic
| access-date = 2006-09-08
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20120716072116/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0820_030820_sharkcancer.html
| archive-date = 2012-07-16
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>
Other apparently false claims are that fins prevent [[cancer]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prostatecancertreatment.co.uk/treatment-options/alternative-approaches |title=Alternative approaches to prostate cancer treatment |access-date=2008-06-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602134207/http://www.prostatecancertreatment.co.uk/treatment-options/alternative-approaches |archive-date=June 2, 2008 }}</ref> and treat [[osteoarthritis]].<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/health/03cancer.html
|title=Shark Cartilage, Not a Cancer Therapy
|last=Pollack
|first=Andrew
|date=3 June 2007
|newspaper=New York Times
|access-date=2009-08-29
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211030840/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/health/03cancer.html
|archive-date=11 December 2008
|url-status=live
}}</ref> No scientific proof supports these claims; at least one study has shown shark cartilage of no value in cancer treatment.<ref>The results of a study sponsored by the [[National Cancer Institute]], and led by Dr. Charles Lu of the [[M.D. Anderson Cancer Center]] in [[Houston, Texas]], were presented at the annual meeting of the [[American Society of Clinical Oncology]] on June 2, 2007 in [[Chicago]]. Cancer patients treated with extracts from shark cartilage had a '''shorter''' median lifespan than patients receiving a placebo. {{cite web|url=http://www.pchrd.dost.gov.ph/library/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=338&Itemid=27 |title=Shark fin won't help fight cancer, but ginseng will |access-date=2008-06-23 }}{{dead link|date=July 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>