All About SharksBy: Kevin Jin

Table of Contents

• Question and Answer Pages

• Fast Facts

• References

• About Me

Where do sharks live?

Sharks can be found in oceans, coral lagoons, mangrove swamps, rivers and shallow seas. Some species of shark can be found in freshwater too, like the bullshark.

What are the sharks enemies?

The shark’s biggest enemy are humans because people kill sharks to get their fins to eat. 73 sharks are killed in a year! People are killing sharks because they get their fins, liver, oil pills and also they make a skin care!

Information about shark babies…

• Baby sharks are called pups.  Just like there are many types of sharks, there are also different ways that sharks come into this world.  There are three ways that sharks are born:– eggs are laid (like birds) – eggs hatch inside the mother and then are born – pups sharks grow inside the mother (like humans)

• Sharks can have from 1 to 100 babies at a time, depending on the type of shark.  The ones with pups that grow inside the mother have fewer babies at a time than sharks that lay eggs outside the body.

• Sharks do not care for their babies after they are born, but they do search for a safe place where they can lay their eggs or give birth.

The Shark’s Habitat

The habitat of sharks not only takes place in different levels of the ocean, but also is restricted to different areas.  This is based on the activities that are needed, whether they need fresh or salt water, seasonal changes that are needed and temperature of the ocean.  Typically, most sharks will be based around the warmer parts of the ocean, ranging from the central regions of the Americas to places around the tips of Africa, Australia and India.  There are also cold water sharks that will be further south or north in the ocean. 

How do sharks communicate?

• There is not solid evidence on how sharks communicate, however there is a great belief that the extraordinary senses developed by sharks are involved in any communication between sharks, if any.

How long do sharks live?

• Some sharks species live from 20 to 30 years.

Some scientist think that the great white shark could be up to 100 years, but it has not been proved.

The tiger shark could be between 30 and 40 years.

Some well known shark species like the mako shark, the lemon shark and the bull shark are still unknown.

The whale shark can live up to 100-150 years.

Scientifically there is no way to determine the life span of sharks.

How much do sharks weigh?

• The largest whale shark registered weight was 47300 lb or 21.5 tonnes.

From there, weights vary according with the specie.

Male bull sharks weight around 200 lb while female bull sharks can reach 700 lb.

The largest tiger shark captured weight was 3,360 lb.

The great white shark weight ranges from 1,500 lb. to 2,500 lb. although there are larger sharks of this specie.

How has the shark adapted?

• Shark skin is a sandpaper like surface which plays an important role in shark efficient movements. Internally, this skin is composed by millions of tiny scales which have form of teeth and form a tough mesh of a protein called collagen.

This meshwork covers muscles and have them attached in a way that creates an armor which acts like an external skeleton.

Fast Facts

• Most sharks live for about 25 years, but some of them can live to be a hundred years old. (Buzzle.com)

• A shark's teeth are usually replaced every eight days, and some species of sharks shed about 30,000 teeth in their lifetime. (Zoology Laboratory Manual McGraw-Hill)

• Sharks do not sleep in the same way as humans do. Even if they seem to be sleeping, they are not, instead they are just resting. (buzzle.com)

• As sharks never get cancer, their cartilage is being studied in the hope of developing anti-cancer drugs. (buzzle.com)

References

• http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/set/9222a42141895422b2e6c1046c8bc1d695faff52

• http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3777631&page=1

• http://www.factmonster.com/spot/sharks2.html

About Me

• My name is Kevin Jin.

• My favorite things to do are playing the piano, the computer, and doing math.

• My favorite foods are french fries and fast foods!