Algal Anomaly or, The Great White Snark

Ok, so in honor of Shark Week on Discovery Channel, I have challenged myself to write a shark story every day for seven days.  Here is the first.  Enjoy!

Algal Anomaly or, The Great White Snark

"There he is mommy," called out Kaylee.  The little girl pulled on her mother's arm with all her strength toward the hallway.  Nina, Kaylee's mother, was exhausted after a full day at the seaquarium and wanted to get the main attraction over with already. 

"Come on, mommy," Kaylee stopped pulling to give her mom the annoyed and disappointed look that children give when their parent does not show as much enthusiasm as they do about something.  Nina tilted her head back and took a breath.  Why did they have to be the winners of the Discovery Channel contest?  She couldn't disappoint her daughter on her fifth birthday by not going to the exclusive preview of the seaquarium's newest and greatest attraction.   

The two continued down the underground corridor, following the signs to the large safety-glass display for "Algal", the largest great white shark ever caught.  He weighed 5,000 pounds and measured 26-feet in length.   He had been caught by mistake by a whaling vessel that was used to tag blue whales for biologic studies.  The motherly instinct immediately kicked in for Nina, as thoughts of the glass breaking and something happening to Kaylee raced through her mind.  Kaylee, however, wanted to see and talk to Algal - to make a new friend.  The mind of a five-year old is marvelous. 

When the pair arrived at the large viewing theater, they were shocked - but not because of the massive size of the animal, but because noticed something strange about the large creature.  He was lethargic, and remained rather close to the bottom of the pool.  He seemed sick. 

"I'm so sorry for this," said a man as he entered the viewing room.   He was in his late fifties, looked a little like Jimmy Buffet. 

"What's wrong with Algal?  I mean, I knew sharks were lazy but this is ridiculous," asked Nina to the newly arrived man.

"We don't know.  He's only been in captivity for two weeks, but he hasn't eaten a thing.  We've thrown all sorts of things in there: sea lions, seals, dolphins, big fish, even whale blubber, and nothin'.  Oh, I'm Cray," he said, extending his hand.

Nina shook his hand and asked, "Do you think it may be that he's depressed?"  

"Nah, I think-"

"Maybe he's a vegetarian!" screamed Kaylee.  Nina and Cray burst into laughter.  Kaylee looked confused.  She wondered why they found it so funny.

"Sweetie," said Cray, "sharks have to eat other animals.  It's the way of the world!  Youll understand some day."

Kaylee furled her brow.

"

Could he have a disease of some sort?" asked Nina.

"He has a disease.  His breath smells," said Kaylee, pointing at Cray.  The man was taken aback by the comment and placed his hand in front of his mouth to check his breath.

"Kaylee Marie!  You apologize to the man right now."

Kaylee pulled her hand away from her mother, forced a frown and mumbled something inaudible.

"Kaylee.  Apologize to the man right this minute or we're going home," repeated Nina.  Still no response. "Ok.  One, two," she started the count that so many children fear, even though most have never let the countdown get to one.

"I'm sorry Mr. Mean," said Kaylee, interrupting the countdown.  Nina rolled her eyes, but was not in the mood to continue the fight.  She turned back to Cray.

"I'm sorry.  So, does he have a disease?" 

"No.  We checked for everything we know, and he has a clean bill of health."

"Algie's a vegetarian, Algie's a vegetarian," sang Kaylee in the way children taunt each other.

"Kaylee!  Algal is NOT a vegetarian!" screamed Nina. "Now stop with the stupid nonsense!"

Everyone paused in awkward silence.  Nina then squatted down to Kaylee's eye level.

"I... I'm so sorry.  Mommy didn't mean to scream like that." 

"Look, Kaylee.  Maybe it's not so far-fetched," said Cray, looking at Nina.  Adults can communicate very well without words when they don't want a child to know what they're saying.  Nina understood the look - it was to calm the little girl down by trying out her theory so she could see that the shark would not eat plants, and it would serve as a learning experience for Kaylee. 

Cray disappeared the way he had come in, and Nina stayed hugging Kaylee for a moment.  "Baby.  The nice man is going to get some plants to feed Algal.  Ok?  Then we can see if you're right or not.  And if you're not right, that's ok.  We learned something, right?"  Kaylee nodded.

The two sat down and watched in wonder as seaweed and sponges slowly sank to the bottom, where Algal moped around like an inmate on death row.   Suddenly, Kaylee stood up.  "Look Mommy!"  She pointed, but she didn't need to. 

Nina's jaw almost hit the floor at what she saw before her.  The shark awoke and attacked the sea plants like it was a seal in the Great Barrier Reef.  It thrashed around, left to right, right to left, sending ripped pieces of seaweed everywhere, muddying the water as the plants were shredded down to smithereens.  It was a frenzy the like of which had never been seen before.  More plants were dropped in, apparently by the bucketful.

"I'll be," whispered Nina to herself.  Kaylee was shrieking in excitement, running to the glass and pressing up against it between twirls of joy.  Nina had quickly forgotten her fear of the glass breaking and her entire belief system had been thrown into a fire.

Cray rushed into the room and stopped at the entryway with eyes wide.  Nina met his stare with the same look.  Kaylee continued to dance around, shrieking loudly, stomping her feet and clapping.

Months later, Algal, the Great Monster of the Sea was the biggest spectacle in the history of the city.  The marine biologists studied the beast daily, in between shows, of course.  The shark displayed the same behaviors as other great whites, only he did not eat meat.  It was one of the most significant biological discoveries in history.  The biologists watched in awe as Algal even breached the water with a surprise attack on layers of algae on the surface of the water.  A stadium was built so people could watch Algal perform breaches the way whaled and dolphins did.

Kaylee had made a friend, as she and Nina were granted lifetime memberships to the seaquarium to visit the shark Kaylee had saved.  And in time, Kaylee would be immortalized in two ways: the stadium was named after her, and so was the newly discovered species of vegetarian shark - the Charcarodon Kayleerias!