Shark liver oil is an oil obtained from the livers of sharks. It has been used for centuries as a folk remedy to promote the healing of wounds and as a remedy for respiratory tract and digestive system problems. It is still promoted as a dietary supplement, and additional claims have been made that it can treat other maladies such as cancer, HIV, radiation illness, swine flu and the common cold. To date, none of these claims have been medically validated and shark liver oil (alone) is not a medication prescribed or utilized by American physicians. However, it is a component of some moisturizing skin lotions, and some hemorrhoid medications.
Many fish maintain buoyancy with swim bladders. However sharks lack swim bladders, and maintain their buoyancy instead with large livers that are full of oil. This stored oil may also function as a nutrient when food is scarce. Deep sea sharks are usually targeted for their oil, because the livers of these species can weight up to 20% of their total weight.
Read more about Shark Liver Oil: Medicinal Use, Shark Oil Barometers
Famous quotes containing the words shark, liver and/or oil:
“They will tell you tough stories of sharks all over the Cape, which I do not presume to doubt utterly,—how they will sometimes upset a boat, or tear it in pieces, to get at the man in it. I can easily believe in the undertow, but I have no doubt that one shark in a dozen years is enough to keep up the reputation of a beach a hundred miles long.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The menu was stewed liver and rice, fricassee of bones, and shredded dog biscuit. The dinner was greatly appreciated; the guests ate until they could eat no more, and Elisha Dyer’s dachshund so overtaxed its capacities that it fell unconscious by its plate and had to be carried home.”
—For the State of Rhode Island, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanism of friendship.”
—Colette [Sidonie Gabrielle Colette] (1873–1954)