What Do You Know About Sharks?
Approximately how many bones do sharks have in their bodies?
- Sharks have no bones— their skeletons are made entirely of cartilage, which makes them different from other types of fish and aquatic dwellers.
Which shark is the second-largest in the world?
- Like the largest species, the whale shark, basking sharks are feeder filters and gentle giants.
Approximately how many teeth will a shark lose over the course of its life?
- Sharks lose teeth in attacks and shed them as well, requiring many replacements during their lives.
Of all the sharks, which species is the oldest one to still be alive today?
- Dwelling at the very bottom of the ocean, the goblin shark is an ancient species from around 125 million years ago, according to scientists' estimates.
Do you know the name of the most dangerous shark for people in the water?
- While most shark attacks are not lethal and many sharks don't tend to actively hunt humans, bull sharks have the highest recorded number of unprovoked human attacks and are more likely to strike.
Hammerhead sharks have heads specially evolved to be able to see wide angles. What is their range of vision?
- Hammerhead shark vision actually overlaps— meaning that they can see all around them, and then some.
The largest shark (and fish) in the world is a whale shark. How long can it grow?
- Though huge, these gentle giants are filter feeders who use their specially designed mouths to eat plankton instead of hunting for prey.
Which type of shark carries its young over a two-year gestation period?
- This shark has the longest gestation found in vertebrates, by far, with most other sharks having gestation periods between 9 and 12 months.
What is the bite force of an adult great white shark?
- In comparison, the jaguar has the strongest jaws of all the big cats, which is only a bite force of about 1,500 PSI.
How many teeth can a shark grow during its lifetime?
- Not only do sharks tend to lose teeth at times, but they also have multiple rows of teeth— with some having up to 15 rows.
