Souped Up

© 2020 Pam Ferris-Olson

Souped Up features a steampunk-fashioned great white shark. Its 19th-century-looking fins allude to a practice known as shark finning. An estimated 100 million or more sharks die annually from this practice of cutting off the animal’s fins and then discarding the body. The demand for shark fins is fueled in some places by a belief that the fins have medicinal qualities. Also, when processed, the fin is considered a delicacy.

This top level ocean predator may yet have its revenge. Blood samples taken from wild sharks indicate that there are a high level of poisonous heavy metals like arsenic and mercury and a substance linked to the development of neurogenerative disease. Although sharks appear to be tolerant to the toxins, they may be particularly harmful to pregnant women and children.