When I was in the fifth grade, one of my classmates brought a large photo album with pictures of sharks to school. Then for the first time I saw them so close and admired and horrified at the same time. Strong, scary, but somehow very beautiful and memorable. Then video game consoles appeared in my life — Atari, Dendi, Sega. And sometimes it was required to enter your name into the table of records. It seemed to me that just Denis would be too usual and easy, so I started using the nickname Shark.

At that time, I had a mini dream — to see sharks in their natural habitat. But I lived in a small town in the Caucasus and was not sure that I would ever visit abroad at all.

[![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVwQz2fJdfksfhPXJbjTdYQkQNNahu2wvYzg6GbwGUrvd/PB280398.png)](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVwQz2fJdfksfhPXJbjTdYQkQNNahu2wvYzg6GbwGUrvd/PB280398.png)

Time passed, the world changed, and such a thing as the Internet appeared. And what was my surprise that this nickname was sometimes already taken. I had to do something, but I didn't want to go far from this word. I added numbers, wrote it as Sh@rk, but it was not right. When Blizzard's strategy game appeared, there was such a strange unit — Lurker. I decided to transform my nickname by analogy with it and the word Sharker turned out. It seemed to me that this was some kind of special word and I would not meet any analogues to it. But I didn't check if there is such a word in English.

Once on a financial forum a person wrote to me in a personal messages, starting the letter with the words: "Dear Speculator, I hope this is how your nickname is translated ...". I got into the translator and was very surprised when I saw the translation of this word:
1) rascal, sharper
2) extortionist, fraudster, someone who makes a living by cheating, swindler
And not a very common definition:
3) a person who fishes or hunts sharks

Oh, well, at least something related to sharks :)

Then I just burst out laughing — I had to sit on a forum dedicated to finance, with such a nickname! But nothing could be done, and I got used to it. Therefore, I left everything as it is.

But I did swim with the sharks. In Thailand, the beach of Phi Phi Don island has a rock near which sharks swim. Upon learning of this, I rented fins and a mask and swam there. There were me and six reef sharks. And no one else. The dream has come true! :) Later I swam a little next to sharks in South Africa. But a meeting with a great white shark and a tiger shark is still ahead for me :)

P.S. The photo to illustrate this post was taken by me at the Siam Ocean World in Bangkok (now — Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World).

P.P.S Thanks to @photofeed for a [short interview](https://peakd.com/hive-153349/@photofeed/10-quick-questions-with-sharker-ep1) with me and thanks to @lightcaptured for asking about my nickname. Here is the answer :)

It's better to watch the photo in high resolution.

------------------

>OLYMPUS E-M5
Exposure time: 1/100 sec
Aperture: F 1.8
Sensitivity: ISO 1600
Focal length: 45 mm
35 mm equivalent: 90 mm

------------------

You can also see my photos in my blog [LJ](https://shark-er.livejournal.com/) and in my profile on [NatGeo](https://nat-geo.ru/community/user/185952/)

------------------

https://i.imgur.com/xno9vvo.png