Editing 2923: Scary Triangles

{{comic
| number    = 2923
| date      = April 22, 2024
| title     = Scary Triangles
| image     = scary_triangles_2x.png
| imagesize = 303x369px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Concealed mostly beneath the surface, sharks are the icebergs of the sea.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is giving a marine biology lecture about sharks and seems to have mixed up icebergs with the topic. 

In pop culture, {{w|shark}}s will often approach prey or people with only their front {{w|dorsal fin}} visible, which looks like a triangle, above the water. As far as its usual marine prey is concerned, this is inaccurate, as most sharks will attack from below to keep the element of surprise. From the human perspective, we're just more used to (and capable of) seeing the surface of the sea so, most of the time, if we actually ''know'' that there is a shark in the area then it's because it is currently swimming close enough to the surface to have its dorsal fin conspicuously sticking into the air - whether or not it is a hunting shark, a dangerous shark or even an actual shark.

In the comic the joke is that Cueball reveals that marine biologists have only recently learned that the triangle is only a small part of a shark. Until this revelation people were only aware of the visible portion, and the fact that death and injury often occurred when they arrive, causing them to be known as 'scary triangles'. Finally the community has learned that more than 90% (i.e. the rest of the shark's body) is hidden beneath the surface. (In most, if not all, cases it would actually be ''significantly'' more than 90%.)

The 90% is borrowed from an often cited factoid about {{w|iceberg}}s: that 90% of their volume is underwater (see also [[2829: Iceberg Efficiency]]). This follows from the relative densities of ice and water: the fraction under water is the density of the ice divided by the density of the water. For pure ice just below freezing in pure water just above freezing this would be 0.92 kg/L / 1 kg/L = 92%. However sea water has a density of 1.03 kg/L, leading to 89%. In reality icebergs are made of compressed snow (which has a lower density) and may be filled with air cavities, leading to lower densities. 

Having learned that a similar fact is true of sharks, Cueball has drawn a dotted outline of the shark's body, equivalent to that often depicted in diagrams of icebergs, beneath the scary triangular fin, to show what a shark looks like under the surface. Cueball's enhanced analysis has so far failed to identify some of the {{w|Shark tooth|even more scary triangles}} that more often stay below water, and would be experienced proportionately more in actual attack situations, also leaving critical leaky holes in the body.

The title text continues the joke explicitly, saying that sharks are the "icebergs of the sea." However, icebergs are already the icebergs of the sea.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball points with a stick to a poster behind him that has a diagram of a shark in the water with some unreadable labels pointing to its dorsal fin and gills. The outlines of the shark under the water are in dashed lines.]
:Cueball: Today's marine biology lecture is on '''sharks'''. We all know them as the scary triangles of the sea, but recent research has revealed that the triangle is only a small portion of the shark - over 90% of it is hidden beneath the surface.

==Trivia==
This is the second comic in a row to mention sharks (the previous being [[2922: Pub Trivia]]), and the third out of the last five to mention large marine predators in some way (the first being [[2919: Sitting in a Tree]]).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Sharks]]