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30 sourced facts

Fun Facts About Sharks

Sharks are older than trees and have no bones. More true shark facts, each with a source.

Greenland sharks can live for hundreds of years.

Sharks have been around longer than trees.

Sharks don’t have a single bone in their bodies.

Sharks keep growing new teeth throughout their lives.

The biggest fish in the world is a shark that eats tiny plankton.

Some sharks have to keep swimming to breathe.

Shark skin is covered in tiny teeth-like scales.

Sharks have no swim bladder. An oily liver keeps them afloat.

A hammerhead’s wide head gives it a wider view and a better electric sense.

Unprovoked shark bites on people are rare: usually fewer than 100 a year worldwide.

There are more than 500 species of shark.

One of the smallest sharks is about 20 centimeters long.

Some sharks glow in the dark.

Great white sharks can grow to about 6 meters long.

Sharks have an excellent sense of smell.

Sharks can feel vibrations in the water.

Some sharks lay eggs in leathery cases called mermaid’s purses.

Sand tiger shark embryos eat their siblings before birth.

Flipping some sharks upside down makes them go still.

The shortfin mako is the fastest shark.

Bull sharks can live in fresh water.

A shark’s skeleton is made of cartilage, the same material as your nose and ears.

The extinct megalodon was one of the largest predators ever.

Each whale shark has a unique pattern of spots.

Tiger sharks are known to eat almost anything.

Many shark species are threatened with extinction.

Nurse sharks suck in their prey like a vacuum.

The goblin shark can shoot its jaws forward to grab prey.

Fun Facts About Sharks: all 30, explained

Greenland sharks can live for hundreds of years.
A 2016 study using radiocarbon dating estimated that Greenland sharks can live at least 272 years, and possibly much longer, making them the longest-living vertebrates known.
Source: Greenland shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sharks have been around longer than trees.
The earliest sharks appeared more than 400 million years ago. The first trees appeared later, around 385 million years ago. Sharks have since survived several mass extinctions.
Source: Shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sharks don’t have a single bone in their bodies.
A shark’s skeleton is made of cartilage, the same flexible material in your nose and ears. Cartilage is lighter than bone, which helps sharks stay buoyant.
Source: Shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sharks keep growing new teeth throughout their lives.
Sharks have rows of teeth that move forward like a conveyor belt. When a front tooth falls out, one from behind replaces it, so some sharks get through thousands of teeth in a lifetime.
Source: Shark tooth (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The biggest fish in the world is a shark that eats tiny plankton.
The whale shark can grow to about 18 metres long, but it is a gentle filter feeder. It swims with its mouth open, straining plankton and small fish from the water.
Source: Whale shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sharks can sense the electric fields of other animals.
Jelly-filled pores on a shark’s snout, called ampullae of Lorenzini, detect the tiny electric signals made by the muscles and nerves of prey, even when it is hidden in sand.
Source: Ampullae of Lorenzini (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Some sharks have to keep swimming to breathe.
Species such as the great white and mako rely on "ram ventilation": swimming with their mouths open so water flows over their gills. Other sharks can pump water over their gills while resting on the sea floor.
Source: Shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Shark skin is covered in tiny teeth-like scales.
Shark skin is made of dermal denticles, small scales built like teeth. They feel rough one way and smooth the other, and reduce drag as the shark swims.
Source: Fish scale (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sharks have no swim bladder. An oily liver keeps them afloat.
Most bony fish use a gas-filled swim bladder to float. Sharks instead have a large liver full of oil, which is lighter than water.
Source: Shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
A hammerhead’s wide head gives it a wider view and a better electric sense.
Eyes at the ends of the hammer-shaped head give hammerheads a broad field of vision, and the wide head carries more electric-sensing pores to scan the sea floor.
Source: Hammerhead shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Unprovoked shark bites on people are rare: usually fewer than 100 a year worldwide.
The International Shark Attack File records the cases each year. People kill tens of millions of sharks every year, mostly through fishing.
Source: Shark attack (Wikipedia) · Fact card
There are more than 500 species of shark.
They range from the dwarf lanternshark, small enough to hold in your hand, to the whale shark.
Source: List of sharks (Wikipedia) · Fact card
One of the smallest sharks is about 20 centimeters long.
The dwarf lanternshark lives deep in the Caribbean and can glow in the dark.
Source: Dwarf lanternshark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Some sharks glow in the dark.
Lanternsharks and others make their own light, which may help camouflage them from below.
Source: Lanternshark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Great white sharks can grow to about 6 meters long.
They are the largest predatory fish, feeding on seals, fish and dolphins.
Source: Great white shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sharks have an excellent sense of smell.
Some sharks can detect blood at concentrations as low as about one part per million.
Source: Shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sharks can feel vibrations in the water.
A line of sensory cells along each side, the lateral line, picks up movement and pressure changes from prey.
Source: Lateral line (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Some sharks lay eggs in leathery cases called mermaid’s purses.
Others give birth to live young. Empty egg cases often wash up on beaches.
Source: Egg case (Chondrichthyes) (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Sand tiger shark embryos eat their siblings before birth.
The largest embryo in each womb eats the others, so only one pup is born from each side.
Source: Sand tiger shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Flipping some sharks upside down makes them go still.
This trance-like state is called tonic immobility, and researchers use it to handle sharks safely.
Source: Tonic immobility (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The shortfin mako is the fastest shark.
It can reach bursts of about 70 km/h and leap high out of the water.
Source: Shortfin mako shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Bull sharks can live in fresh water.
They have been found far up rivers such as the Mississippi and the Amazon.
Source: Bull shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
A shark’s skeleton is made of cartilage, the same material as your nose and ears.
Cartilage is lighter and more flexible than bone, which helps sharks stay buoyant and turn quickly.
Source: Cartilage (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The extinct megalodon was one of the largest predators ever.
It lived until about 3.6 million years ago and may have reached 15 meters or more. We know it mostly from huge fossil teeth.
Source: Megalodon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The cookiecutter shark bites round plugs out of bigger animals.
It latches on with its lips and twists, leaving neat circular wounds on whales, dolphins and even submarines.
Source: Cookiecutter shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Each whale shark has a unique pattern of spots.
Scientists identify individuals from photos of their spots, using software first designed for star maps.
Source: Whale shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Tiger sharks are known to eat almost anything.
Their stomachs have contained turtles, birds, tires and license plates.
Source: Tiger shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Many shark species are threatened with extinction.
Overfishing, including for shark fins, has cut some populations sharply, and about a third of shark and ray species are threatened.
Source: Shark finning (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Nurse sharks suck in their prey like a vacuum.
They rest on the sea floor and use powerful suction to pull fish and shellfish from crevices.
Source: Nurse shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The goblin shark can shoot its jaws forward to grab prey.
This rarely seen deep-sea shark has a long flat snout and slingshot jaws.
Source: Goblin shark (Wikipedia) · Fact card

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