- Or maybe you do and you'll have to let us know in the comments.
If you know these shark fun facts, share something new with us!
- Hammerhead sharks have a blind spot directly above and below their heads.
- A shark’s teeth are as sharp as razor blades and can basically cuts through anything.
- The biggest shark in the ocean is the whale shark.
- Basking sharks are the world’s second largest shark.
- About 143/500nspecies of sharks are considered under threat and listed as vulnerable to critically endangered.
- Sharks have been on earth for over 450 million years.
- Some sharks have to move in order to breathe as movement forces water over their gills, moving oxygen to the blood stream. Without movement, the shark will suffocate and die.
- A shark’s back fin is called the caudal fin at the back fo the body and it provides thrust and power, as if it were a boat motor.
- Some species of shark will return to where they were born to give birth, which is known as natal philopatry. (Sea turtles may do this, too)
- Most sharks are white, gray and black
- Some sharks have a spriacle that allows them to pull water into their respitory system when they’re at rest.
- Hammerhead Sharks have 360 degree vision.
- Your chance of dying in a shark attack is estimated to be one in 3,748,067.
- Blue Sharks are blue!
- Greenland Sharks have a diet of sleeping seals and need to use their sense of smell to find them, because they are too slow to catch prey.
- Mating is observed in only a few species of sharks.
- Sharks can see colors.
- The dwarf lantern shark is the smallest shark and you can find them around the northern tip of South America.
- Sharks teeth actually have and are made out of flouride. Shark teeth contain fluorinated calcium phosphate, the main ingredient in conventional toothpaste.
- Young sharks eat fish, even other sharks and rays.
- Hammerhead sharks have been known to pin stingrays against the sea floor.
- Very little is known about where Great White Shark females deliver their pups.
- Zebra Sharks get their name from their intricate black and white pattern which makes them look like a Zebra.
- The courtship behavior of zebra sharks involves a male biting vigorously on the female’s pectoral fins and tail. BDSM of the animal world?
- Shark populations around the world are in rapid decline, mostly impart to humans.
- A shark always has a row of smaller teeth developing behind its front teeth. Then the smaller teeth move forward and the front teeth fall out.
- Sharks have to bones.
- Sharks hunt their prey by swimming under them, then swimming up very quickly, bursting out of the water and falling back into the water with the prey in their mouth.
- Sharks communicate through body language. When they feel threatened, sharks swim in quick, exaggerated movements.
- Hammerhead sharks have been known to pin their prey to the bottom of the sea floor.
- The skeleton of sharks is made completely out of cartilage, which is the same thing humans ears and noses are made out of.
- Goblin sharks can be a bright pink color!
- The fastest shark in the ocean is the short fin mako shark, swimming as fast as 46mph.
- Most sharks have a cold body temperature, similar to the water they swim in.
- Baby sharks are called pups.
- Sharks reach sexual maturity later than many animals and produces few young contributing to their endangered status.
- Hammerhead sharks get their name because their heads literally look like the head of a hammer.
What do you think are the best of these shark fun facts? Share your favorites in the comments!