File:Adult Shark.jpg
Shark

Appearance

Sharks are large water dwellers and grayish in color, with a lighter underside. They have an angular snout sporting a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Sharks come in at least twelve different sizes. The smallest are able to be caught in a bucket. The larger shark it is, the more raw fish and bigger shark jaws can be harvested.

They leave a rising trail of small, square bubbles that rapidly shrink. These can ascend above the surface of the water.

While it may appear at times that a shark (particularly a large one) is out of the water or inside a solid block, this is only because it's location is determined by the position of it's head and jaws. The rest of the shark can overlap adjacent spaces with no effect.

Where Found

Oceans (large bodies of water) are the preferred habitat of sharks. They may tend to stay in deep water unless attracted by potential prey. There have been no reports of sharks spawning underground or what they may spawn near.

Behavior

The larger the shark is, the more common it is to attack Blockheads. Larger sharks are capable of inflicting more damage than young ones. Sharks will swim towards a Blockhead in a boat or out of the water on a beach or other adjacent block and try to attack, but they cannot reach them. Young sharks and those who have been attacked or failed in an attack attempt tend to swim quickly away from Blockheads. Sharks do not behave any differently when near fish.

Sharks will tend to swim deeper when ice begins to form and eventually appear infrequently near the surface of cold regions. Despite this, it is possible for a shark to become trapped in newly formed ice where it will soon despawn.

When a shark despawns, it makes a watery "bloop" sound. When approaching for a possible attack, there will be a two-chord sound reminiscent of the beginning of the theme to the movie "Jaws" (1975).

Health

The number of blows required to kill a shark is dependent on its size. Small sharks can be dispatched with as little as one blow from an iron sword, while larger specimens may require three or more.

Uses

Currently there are three uses for sharks. One is for collecting shark jaws from killing sharks, which can be placed on back walls. Another one is for food and rare drops of clothing (which tends to spawn used and often dyed). Raw fish is in greater quantities than from fish when sharks are killed. The final use is for farming.

Young sharks are able to be caught in a bucket, creating a "Shark Bucket" which can then be moved and emptied into a different place. Sharks can only be placed in water. It's possible to build an aquarium of sharks, or let them grow up and then kill them for raw fish, shark jaws and clothing items.

Notes

When introduced in version 1.2, there was a bug where large numbers of sharks could spawn in a tight group and slow down the game. This was immediately addressed in version 1.2.1, which will reduce excessive spawns in already affected worlds.

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