Shark Trivia

Did You Know that Sharks have their own money….

….including in the form of the $3 bill in the Cook Islands? The artwork was originally painted by renowned painter Rick Welland who reluctantly entered his artwork in a competition for the Cook Islands’ $3 bill design.

The design was inspired by Eastern Polynesian folklore of the love story between Ina and the god of the Ocean, Tinirau, who lived on a floating island called the Sacred Isle Motu-Tpau.

Ina plunged into the sea to search for Tinirau and first called on smaller fish to help her. She was repeatedly tipped into the water and got no further than the shallow lagoon in four attempts. She beat the fish and permanently marked them. However, a shark agreed to carry her to Motu-Tpau.

On the journey, she felt thirsty and began to open a coconut. The shark raised his dorsal fin so that she could crack it. Later, she grew thirsty again and cracked a second coconut on the shark's head, as depicted in the original painting. The shark immediately shook her off and dove into the water. She was rescued when Tekea the Great, the king of all sharks, rose from the depths and drove off the other sharks. Tekea took her to Tinirau’s island.

The blow she gave to her original shark which shook her off raised a bump on its head. To this day, it is referred to as “Ina’s bump.”