Basking Shark
• Have large, oil-filled livers
they can swim slowly
without sinking
• Have teeth, but are hardly
used
• Can migrate thousands of
miles
– Swam from Scotland to
Canada, 5,958 miles
• Filter feeders, feed on
plankton
Whale Shark
• NOT A WHALE!
• Can filter 1,600 gallons of
water in 1 hour
– More than 18,000 cans of soda!
• The largest shark and largest
fish
• 46 feet in length…15 tons
– Females are larger than males
• Have about 3,000 teeth
– That they do not use
• Closes its mouth to swallow
food, but can spit out the food
it doesn’t like
• Whale sharks are
viviparous…give birth to live
young
• Sexually mature at 30 years
old
• Harmless to people
• May live up to 100-150 years
old
Bull Shark
• Males 7 ft in length
– 200 lbs.
• Females 11.5 ft in
length
– 500 lbs.
• Feed on fish (other
sharks and rays) turtles,
birds, mollusks,
crustaceans, dolphins
• Can swim in FRESH
water
• Is an aggressive shark
– Is one of the most
frequent attackers of
people as it swims in
shallow waters where
people swim
Cookie Cutter Shark
• cookie-cutter shark eats
by taking round
(cookiecutter-shaped)
bites out of its victims
with its long teeth and
powerful jaws, mostly
attacking large fish and
whales (including
dolphins)
• 20 inches in length
• cookiecutter is also
known as the cigar
shark (due to its color
and shape), the
luminous shark
(because it emits a
green glow from its
belly), and the Brazilian
shark
Hammerhead Shark
• Up to 20 ft in length
• Have special “third
eyelids”
– Membrane can cover the
eye while the shark
thrashes around with
prey
• Might produce up to 40
pups at once
• 8 different species of
hammerhead sharks
• Feed on
stingrays…barbs and all
– Some Great
Hammerheads have
been found with more
than 50 spines
embedded in the mouth
and throat
• Their fins are among
the most expensive of
shark fins when sold
Megalodon
• Have teeth that are the
size of human hands
– 6.5 inches in length
• Lived about 20 million
to 2 million years ago
• 42 ft in length
• Some scientists believe
the Megalodon could
be up to 50 or 100 ft in
length
• No whole Megalodon
fossils have been found
– Only jaws and teeth
– So no real idea what the
shark looked like
• Megalodon’s jaw could
open 6 ft wide and 7 ft
high
Tiger Shark
• Garbage cans of the sea
– Stingrays, squid, animal
antlers, shoes, car license
plates, car tires, handbags,
and a human hand!
• Tiger sharks can grow
24,000 teeth in 10 years
• Jaw is so strong it can bite
through a turtle’s shell
• Can be up to 20 ft in
length
• Can swim at an average
speed of 2.4 mph
• The young of tiger sharks
are born live in litters of
between 10 and 82 pups
Weird & Wonderful
• Goblin Shark
– Rarely seen
– Push their jaw out of their
mouth
• Frilled Shark
– Live up to 5,000 ft. below the
ocean surface
– Looks like a scary eel
– Have 300 many-pronged
teeth
• Wobbegongs
– Live on the seabed in shallow
water
– Some have tassels of skin that
look like seaweed
• Megamouths
– Live only 500 ft. below the
surface
– So rare—only a few have
been seen
– First megamouth was
discovered 30 years ago
• Velvetbelly Lanternsharks
– May glow to find each other
or to attract mates
• Lanternsharks
– Have special cells in their
bodies that glow in the dark
Shark Attacks!
• The great white shark is
at the top of the food
chain…21 ft long
predator is dangerous
to fish and mammals
and rarely humans
• More people are killed
by jellyfish than great
white sharks
• Great Whites cruise at 2
mph, but when it finds
prey the shark shoots
forward at 15 mph!
• Most shark attacks are a
case of mistaken
identity…most surfers
look like seals from
below the surface of
the water
Hangers On….Parasites?
• Remora fish
– Attach themselves to the
shark for a free ride
– Eat food that falls out of the
sharks’ mouth
– Clean the sharks…eat the
parasites on the sharks’ skin
• Pilot fish
– Swim with the sharks
(protection)
– Won’t get eaten by
sharks…too quick
– Feed on the sharks’
parasites…and dung!
• Tapeworm
– More than 3 ft in length
– Live inside sharks’ gut
absorbing food
• Copepods
– Crustaceans
– Stick onto sharks’
fins…females lay eggs on the
sharks fins
– 1 species lives in the EYE of
the Greenland shark
• Feeds on the eye…but once
done it can’t swim away
Hunting Sharks
• Shark cartilage and fins are
used in traditional medicine
• Shark skin is turned into
leather for making shoes,
handbags, wallets, and even
sword handles
• Shark liver oil, called
squalene, is used in
cosmetics
• Sharks are also hunted for
sport
• Most sharks are caught just
for their fins.
– Some are “finned” while still
alive, then thrown back to the
sea
• Mako shark steaks are sold
in some supermarkets
• Shark jaws are sold as
souvenirs…some species
can only be sold
internationally if the seller
has a special permit