UFSH – U.C .

Inglés Instrumental - Semestre 1-2021

Reading N° 1
I Punched a Shark
A marine biologist recalls a jarring underwater confrontation.
By Jenny Blair – December 2013.

Marine biologist Ben Ruttenberg of California Polytechnic State University in

San Luis Obispo scuba-dives to study fisheries and map out reefs, so he’s seen
plenty of sea creatures up close. An encounter with a curious sea lion on his first
dive propelled him toward marine science. But he’s had dangerous encounters,
too, including one in the Galápagos while he was investigating geographical
variations among damselfish.
In his own words...
1 In Galápagos, there are three common species of sharks. They’re usually
not very threatening; they just cruise around. In the early 2000s, some
colleagues and I were in about 25 feet of water, counting juvenile fish on
the reef. I looked up, and there was a very large shark directly in front of
me, and it was heading right for me.
2 A few things went through my mind. The first was, Wow, that’s a very
large shark. Second, it’s coming right for me; that’s very unusual here.
Ben Ruttenberg, marine biologist and shark
And third, I do not recognize this. It was not one of the three common
puncher, floats above a coral reef.
species. It was bigger than most of the things I had seen down there. I’ve Evan K. D´Allessandro

never heard of anything where the species has headed straight for a person.
3 Sharks have a lot of sensory organs on the ventral side of their snout, and
I had read that if you grab them there, they are very sensitive and they
stop doing whatever they’re doing. So as the shark swam up to me, I
essentially punched it with the palm of my hand, underneath its snout.
4 Then the shark and I sat there. It felt like two or three weeks that we hung
out. And then it flicked its tail and vanished. The entire thing happened in

Don´t try this at home. less than five seconds. We called the boat to come get us. I’ve never swum
Kellie Jaeger/Discover
so fast.
5 I later looked through all the guidebooks to figure out what kind of shark I had seen. All the shark photos
are taken from the side because that’s how people see them — they don’t usually get the front view of the
shark. But I’m 99 percent certain that what I saw was a bull shark, which is one of the most aggressive shark
species in the world.
6 Sometimes they’ll swim up and bump you. It’s partly territoriality, and it’s partly them investigating you,
trying to figure out what you are. I know plenty of people who have been bumped by bull sharks, but no one
who’s gotten to look at them face-to-face like that. I’m still not sure whether the shark thought I was a sea
lion, or whether it was just curious.
7 It may have just thought I was a girl shark and it wanted to check me out.

Taken from: http://discovermagazine.com/2013/nov/06-punched-shark 1

 UFSH – U.C .Inglés Instrumental - Semestre 1-2021

Vocabulary:

recall To bring back from memory; remember

jarring To have a sudden and unpleasant effect on one´s nerves, feelings, etc.
scuba-dives To descend and swim underwater using a scuba device
damselfish Any of several chiefly tropical, brilliant colored, marine fishes of the family Pomacentridae,
living among coral reefs. Also called demoiselle.
snout The part of an animal´s head that contains the nose and jaws; muzzle
grab To seize suddenly, eagerly, or roughly; snatch.
hung out To lean out, suspend, or be suspended
flicked To strike, remove, propel, or operate with a sudden light, smart stroke
bump To come into contact with; collide with
figure out To understand; solve

Activities:
1.- Lea el título, el párrafo en letras cursivas, el último párrafo y las leyendas de las dos figuras.
2.- Una vez leído lo anterior, escriba tres predicciones de lo que usted considera que va a tratarse en la
lectura.
3.- Infiera el significado de las siguientes palabras:
jarring - damselfish - grab - hung out - figure out
4.- Subraye las palabras desconocidas por usted.
5.- Busque el significado de las palabras desconocidas.

Questions:
1.- ¿Quién es Ben Ruttenberg?
2.- ¿Qué se encuentra en Los Galápagos?
3.- ¿Qué características presentan estos tipos de tiburones?
4.- ¿Qué le pasó a Ruttenberg en el año 2000?
5.- ¿Dónde golpeó al tiburón? ¿Por qué?
6.- ¿Qué hizo el tiburón?
7.- ¿Qué duró menos de cinco minutos?
8.- ¿A qué conclusión llegó Ruttenberg?