Fictional Species: Tribute to the Surreal ‘Land Shark’

Although our world is full of all kinds of amazing creatures, unbelievable animals and wonderful wildlife, we sometimes find ourselves enamored of fictional creatures. Such was the case with the Land Shark: that lovable but tricky shark that lied his way into homes and offices to devour the residents within. Thirty-six years after the Land Shark’s debut on Saturday Night Live, the weird animal still inspires giggles.

Above is one of the first SNL appearances of the terrifying Land Shark. Unlike sea sharks, the truly scary part of this animal is his ability to fool his quarry into letting him into their homes. Little did these poor souls realize that opening the door to the friendly-sounding telegram delivery man or plumber would be the last thing they ever did.

The video game Armed and Dangerous paid homage to the legendary land shark with its fantastic “Land Shark Gun.” In the game, you can shoot at enemies with a gun that sends the iconic Land Shark out for a quick bite of lunch consisting of your unfortunate foe. Upon reaching the unlucky enemy, the land shark bursts out of the ground to chomp down on the tasty human flesh.

University of Applied Science at Augsburg student Frank Robnik made this video to illustrate the qualities of the land shark’s famous cousin the Graboid. Graboids starred as the villains in all of the Tremors movies. Despite looking more like worms, the Graboids have the ferocity and insatiable hunger of sharks. Despite being fictional just like the land sharks, Graboids have enjoyed similar cult hero status – but clearly their fans are people who have never lost a loved one to either vicious creature.