Key Points
- Sharks can swim about 30 times faster than a human.
- The largest shark species include the Great White, Greenland, Tiger, and Whale Sharks.
- Wild sharks are not generally interested in attacking humans, that said, there are about 72 recorded incidents each year.
Biggest Sharks
Sharks vary in size from tiny sharks to the biggest, which can be as large as 60 feet. The average female shark is 15-16 feet long, while males can reach 11-13 feet. Although this is bigger than a human, not all sharks will attack humans!
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These sharks are so big, they remind us of the biggest mammals in the ocean.
What is the largest shark species?
Shark Teeth
Sharks do not only have one row of teeth like most animals but have several, with the average being five. Sharks can have as many as 3,000 teeth at once! The teeth are designed to be disposable and are being replaced continuously as they are broken off or damaged. The teeth in the back rows just move forward.
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Great Whites do not have more than 60,000 teeth in their lifetimes.
How many teeth does a Great White Shark use in its lifetime?
Fast Sharks
Sharks are really built for speed and can achieve high speeds underwater. The fastest shark can swim about 30 times faster than the average human. Sharks swim so fast because their tails swing from side to side. This creates twice as many jets of water and makes swimming much more efficient.
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These short-finned sharks are found in tropical and temperate offshore waters.
Which shark is the fastest swimmer?
A Shark’s Bite Force
Sharks have a massive bite force, with big sharks exerting a bite force of nearly 1.8 tonnes. This gives them one of the biggest bite forces of any living animal, 3 times more than a lion and more than 20 times more than a human.
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Carlos Grillo/Shutterstock.com
This shark is not as big as the greatest sharks.
Which shark has the strongest bite force per body length?
Tiger Sharks Eat Anything
A tiger shark is a voracious predator that will literally eat anything. They will eat anything from other sharks, fish, and crustaceans, to rays, and seabirds. They are indiscriminate eaters who will also eat non-food items when they find it in the ocean.
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A tiger shark will eat almost anything!
What are the weirdest things found in the stomach of a tiger shark?
Earliest Sharks
The biggest shark that ever lived, weighed as much as 30 Great White sharks put together. It was a fearsome hunter, preying on the early whales and other sea creatures. It is thought that the reduction in the availability of prey pushed it to extinction three million years ago.
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This was truly a “mega” shark!
What was the biggest shark (and fish) that ever lived, called?
Shark Attacks
Worldwide there is an average of 72 unprovoked shark attacks yearly, of which an average of 4.3 was fatal. Sharks normally won’t attack humans and would rather eat fish and other sea creatures, but sometimes a human gets mistaken for a seal or sea lion.
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Willyam Bradberry/Shutterstock.com
These huge white sharks are very aggressive.
Which shark is responsible for most shark attacks?
Smallest Shark
When talking about sharks, people tend to concentrate on the massive ones, like Megalodon and the Great White shark. But there are quite a few species of shark that will fit in the palm of your hand and are quite harmless to humans.
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This small shark glow in the dark.
Which is the smallest shark species?
A Shark’s Sense of Smell
Sharks have about the same sense of smell as other fish and can smell blood that is diluted between one part per 25 million and one part per 10 billion, making it about one drop of blood in a small swimming pool. Sharks are drawn to the smell of blood and will attack an injured animal or human.
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A shark will smell blood less than half a mile away.
How far away can sharks smell blood under water?
Shark Embryos
Shark embryos, stuck inside the egg case, are very vulnerable to a variety of predators. As the egg case starts to open, predators can sense the baby inside through changing electric fields. The embryo can, however, also sense the danger approaching by the same means.
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Baby sharks almost “play dead” when they sense danger
What does a shark embryo do to hide from predators?
Buoyant Sharks
Fishes and underwater creatures need to achieve neutral buoyancy. They can do this in different ways. Most fishes have a swimbladder that is filled with different volumes of gas. Other fishes store fats and lipds that is less dense than water and others balance blubber and bone.
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This organ is huge and contain lots of oil.
Which organ in the shark’s body help them stay afloat?
Sharks’ Predators
Sharks have long been considered the top predator in the ocean, but there are animals that make a feast of shark meat. These include large fishes like the grouper as well as other animals.
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This killer of sharks is actually a dolphin!
Which animal will kill sharks?
Prehistoric-looking Sharks
The Hexanchiformes are the most primitive sharks alive today. They are strange, prehistoric-looking sharks that spend most of their time in the deep waters of the oceans far below the surface.
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These sharks have collar-looking gills, almost like frills.
Which shark looks a lot like a sea serpent and hovers in the water?
Oldest Living Species of Shark
Sharks first appeared about 380 million years ago. The golden age of sharks was the Carboniferous Period when sharks dominated and evolved in lots of different forms. Some of the sharks from that period are still around today.
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The name of this shark refers to a small, grotesque, monstrous creature from folklore.
Which species of shark has been living in the oceans since 125 million years ago?
Sharks in Freshwater
Sharks have evolved in saltwater and are adapted for a life in saltwater. They must retain salt inside their bodies, otherwise, their cells would rupture and they would die. There are, however, a few species of sharks that can tolerate fresh water for a certain time period.
This is one of the most aggressive sharks.
Which sharks can survive for long periods in freshwater?
Shark Skeleton
Because sharks have no swim bladder, their skeleton needs to be lighter to aid with buoyancy in the water. Sharks have therefore evolved to have a lighter skeleton than land animals and even other fishes.
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The whale shark has got to have very light skeleton to stay afloat.
What is a shark skeleton made of?
Hammerhead Sharks
Hammerhead sharks can be recognized by their unusually shaped head. The Hammerhead has electrical sensors in the head that allows it to scan for food quickly. The Hammerhead has 360-degree vision because its eyes are placed on the sides of the hammerhead.
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A hammerhead with its favorite prey, a stingray.
What does a Hammerhead shark use its head for?
Longest Living Sharks
Sharks have various lifespans, depending on the species. Some sharks do not live very long, like the Blue shark which only lives 15 to 16 years in the wild. Other shark species live incredibly long lives, and only mature at around 150 years of age!
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These sharks live in very cold waters.
Which shark lives the longest?
Famous Sharks
Sharks have featured in a lot of movies over time. Who will forget the greatest shaw movie of all time, Jaws? But not all sharks are monsters like the shark in Jaws – there are also very likable characters, like the friendly shark in Finding Nemo!
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The shark was named after the villainous shark in the movie “Jaws”.
What is the name of the Great White that is the leader of the Fish-Friendly Sharks Support Group in Finding Nemo?
Sharks in Religion
In some countries, sharks are considered sacred. They are revered as departed relatives that inhabited the body of a shark and will act as family guardians. They are also considered to give guidance to travelers at sea.
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