31.1.12

Disney, Pixar, and Sharks

I was watching Finding Nemo with several small children, and I was finding it a bit more interesting since I've now taken a Marine Biology class, and I'm currently enrolled in a class called Sharks.  It is an awesome class, and I'm enjoying it a great deal.  Then we got to the part where Marlin (the daddy Clown Fish) meets Bruce (the Great White Shark), Anchor (the Hammerhead Shark), and Chum (the Mako Shark).  This part was fine for everyone else, but I discovered something.  Bruce, who was undoubtedly intended to be a male shark, is, in fact, female.

Male cartilaginous fishes have claspers, sort of modified reproductive fins, formed from the posterior part of their pelvic fins.

Compare:

Bruce



To a real Great White Shark


The animators probably thought that was too obscene, or something ridiculous, and didn't want kids asking about it.  But if my sharks class ruined Finding Nemo for me, I'm going to ruin it for everybody else.