A report dated November 1, 1942 tells of a tiger shark that was added to the Coogee Beach Aquarium, near Sydney Australia. This shark, some days later disgorged some large fish bodies. A few days later, while swimming in a large tank before a throng of spectators, the shark disgorged a human arm.
The arm bore no teeth marks so the shark was absolved of blame for the owner's deah. But it was obviously murder, the arm bearing evidence of having been cut with a knife. Sydney police obtained finger prints from the hand, and noted the tatooing on the arm--two boxers in action--and from this evidence, made an identification. James Smith was the name of the victim; he was a longshoreman who had disappeared about ten days before the shark was captured. Two men later were charged with Smith's murder.
American sharks have done their duty. Not to be outdone by the Australian shark of which I spoke earlier, an American shark, in waters off the Florida coast, was caught by a fisherman, on October 23, 1943. On being opened, the hand, forearm and parts of a human leg were found in the shark.
The hand was printed, and finger prints established that the parts belonged to one of the victims of the collision and explosion of two oil tankers three days before the shark was captured.
Taken from "A Third History of Identification in the United States" by Harry J. Myers, II which was printed in the 'Finger Print and Identification Magazine' Vol. 29 No. 10, April 1948.