The most incredible things in life are often misunderstood. Take sharks for example, an animal commonly known (and mostly feared) by all. If you ask someone about a shark, most people will automatically associate it with an image which will probably be coming from a horror movie.
But are sharks really as they are portrayed? or do they hold much more complex and intriguing mysteries that go much further than the sharp teeth and the blue fin cutting the edge of the water?
If you want to know a little more about this incredible prehistorical creatures check out this shark facts!
- Sharks are on the top of the ocean’s food chain, which make them the indicator for the ocean health and balance and therefore essential for the ecosystem.
- Shark’s skeletons are made of cartilage which is lighter and more flexible than bones. The lighter weight of the cartilage allows them to go fast without as much effort while the flexibility gives them the capacity of bending much easier than bony fishes.
- Both sharks and rays have cartilaginous skeletons making them part of the same family of fishes.
- The Ampullae of Lorenzini are sensing organs mostly found in cartilaginous fish. Sharks have them concentrated on their heads mostly around their snouts and they use them to detect the electrical currents that are emitted by the prey. Have you ever seen a shark attacking a metal diver’s cage? Well this behavior could potentially be indulged by the electric field generated by metal, contrary to the common believe of attacking the divers inside the cages.
- Sharks are prehistorical animals! I was personally blown away by this fact. Can you believe that this creatures have been evolving since more than 400 million years ago? This makes them one of the most incredibly well designed creatures of nature.
- One of the largest sharks that have ever lived on earth was the MEGALODON, which literally means big tooth. The earliest Fossil found of this prehistorical animal dates from 20 millions ago it’s believed to be extinct around 2.6 million years ago. Its estimated that they grew around 18 meters in length (3 times longer than a large white shark).
- Sharks produce teeth all their lives. Depending on their diet they can lose a set of teeth every one to two weeks. The teeth are arranged in their jaws in rows, this way when a teeth falls off there’s the next one just in the row bellow ready for the bite.
- There are at least 440 different species of sharks swimming earth’s oceans, but only about a dozen of them have been considered dangerous for humans ], 3 of which are responsible for most of human attacks (Great white, tiger and bull sharks). Sharks kill an average of 6 humans a year but what’s very alarming are the number of sharks killed every year by the hands of humans, with an average of 100 million sharks per year.
I have always wondered about the creatures living within the deep blue waters of the ocean, getting to know more about sharks makes me wonder how many more mysteries do the waters of planet Earth hold, and makes me realize how necessary is to respect this magnificent planet and all its life.
And you? what do you think about sharks? If you know any more interesting shark facts feel free to leave a comment!
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