They Swallowed His Phony Shark Story

The reported discovery of a human hand with a watch on its wrist inside the belly of a black tip shark was an elaborate hoax, police said today.

The “hand” found Saturday turned out to be a deteriorated alligator foot. The revelation was not made by the hoaxer, a graduate student in marine science, until late Monday--after authorities had taken the watch to see if a woman whose husband is missing in the Gulf of Mexico could identify it.