Shark
; shark 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 9 |
| Attacks |
Bite 5d6 physical |
| Base level | 7 |
| Base experience | 104 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 2 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 500 |
| Nutritional value | 350 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A shark:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 3.6.7 - src/monst.c, line 2627 |
A shark, ;, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a carnivorous sea monster that is oviparous, slithy and thick-skinned. Sharks are capable of swimming, and like other sea monsters they are considered amphibious, but they will become scared and lose HP while on land.
A shark has a strong bite attack.
Contents
Generation
Sharks are not randomly generated, and normally-created sharks are always hostile.
Multiple sharks are randomly placed on non-filler levels of the Healer quest at level creation: one of the home level, and two each on the locate and goal levels.
Four sharks are generated in specific squares within the dollar sign-shaped deep water on the Rogue quest goal level at level creation.[1]
A shark is generated in each of the four corners of the Castle moat at level creation.[2]
Four sharks are randomly placed on the Plane of Water at level creation.[3]
Strategy
While they lack the notoriety posed by the other sea monsters, particularly the drowning threat of the giant eel and electric eel, sharks are still worth being cautious around, as they can take surprising bites out of a hero's HP if you aren't attentive towards them. Most heroes that encounter one can usually clear them out with some care: wands of cold can force them out of the water, and they are very easily scared by any means due to their lack of monster MR.
History
The shark first appears in NetHack-- 3.0.10, and makes its vanilla debut in NetHack 3.3.0.
Origin
Sharks are a group of fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorpha (or Selachii) and are the sister group to the Batoidea (rays and kin). Some sources extend the term "shark" as an informal category to include extinct members of Chondrichthyes with a shark-like morphology. Several shark-like fish first appeared in the Devonian Period (419–359 million years ago), though some of their fossilized scales are as old as the Late Ordovician (458–444 million years ago). The earliest confirmed modern sharks are known from the Early Jurassic around 200 million years ago, with the oldest known member being Agaleus, though records of true sharks may extend back as far as the Permian (c. 300-250 million years ago).
Sharks range in size from the small 17-cm (6.7-in.) dwarf lanternshark, Etmopterus perryi, to the 12-meter (40-ft.) whale shark, Rhincodon typus. They are found in all seas and are common to depths up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), with some few known exceptions that are also or exclusively found in freshwater. Sharks have numerous sets of replaceable teeth and a covering of dermal denticles that protects their skin from damage and parasites, in addition to improving their fluid dynamics.
Though several species of shark are apex predators and have reputations as human-hunting beasts, very few sharks are actually dangerous to humans: of more than 470 species, only four have been involved in a significant number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans—the great white, oceanic whitetip, tiger, and bull sharks. The perception of sharks as dangerous animals has been popularized by publicity given to a few isolated unprovoked attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and through popular fictional works such as the Jaws film series. Jaws author Peter Benchley, as well as Jaws director Steven Spielberg, later attempted to dispel the image of sharks as man-eating monsters.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, at least thirteen sharks are generated in the Sunless Sea at level creation. This also applies to SlashTHEM and Hack'EM.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, three sharks are randomly generated in the moat of the first alternate layout for the Castle at level creation.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, sharks and other sea monsters can be randomly generated if a level has water and a water square is selected as a spot for random monster generation, and will be generated on such floors at level creation.
Several sharks are generated on the Sunless Sea map of The Sea at level creation.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, sharks are vulnerable to shock damage.
A dozen sharks are placed within the moat surrounding the ground floor of the Wizard's Tower at level creation.
Encyclopedia entry
As the shark moved, its dark top reflected virtually no
light. The denticles on its skin muted the whoosh of its
movements as the shark rose, driven by the power of the
great tail sweeping from side to side, like a scythe.
The fish exploded upward.
Charles Bruder felt a slight vacuum tug in the motion of
the sea, noted it as a passing current, the pull of a wave,
the tickle of undertow. He could not have heard the faint
sucking rush of water not far beneath him. He couldn't
have seen or heard what was hurtling from the murk at
astonishing speed, jaws unhinging, widening, for the
enormous first bite. It was the classic attack
that no other creature in nature could make -- a bomb from
the depths.
