Shark Facts
With the recent news coverage on the eight year old boy who was attacked by a shark I thought some kid friendly shark facts were in order. First let me share with you an interesting fact I read in our local news paper (Cumberland Times-News, Cumberland, Maryland). The news paper stated that there were 76 reported shark attacks world wide last year. Of those attacks 51 happened in the United States. The most interesting fact was that 34 of the 51 attacks in the United States happened in Florida. Now I don’t know how accurate these figures are but that means that nearly half of all shark attacks world wide, happen in Florida. Considering how many people enjoy going to the beach and swimming in the ocean each year, these figures are pretty low. I don’t know the actual figures but I would assume that one has a better chance of being struck by lightening.
Not all sharks are aggressive and few would attack humans. Most scientist agree that when sharks do attack that it is normally a case of mistaken identity.
Now, onto the kid friendly shark facts:
There are over 350 species of sharks and only 39 of these species grow to over 10 feet long.
The largest shark is the whale shark and is the size of a whale.
The smallest shark is the spined pygmy shark and is only six inches long.
Sharks do not have bones. The sharks “bones” are actually made of cartilage. Cartilage is the same material your ears and nose are made of.
Sharks don’t have the same type of scales as other fish. Their scales are called denticles and resemble tiny hard sharp teeth.
Most fish have a single pair of gills but sharks have five to seven pairs.
Not all sharks are cold blooded. The great white and two of the mako sharks are warm bodied. They use a process to heat their own bodies.
The faster moving sharks are know to be more intelligent then their slow moving bottom dwelling cousins.
Some sharks have as many as three pairs of eyelids.
Sharks have cat like eyes in the sense that both have a mirror like layer that reflects light, enabling them to see in the dark.
Sharks have organs called ampullae of lorenzini. These organ sense electrical activity and help them to find food.
An adult shark can go through about 7 to 11 sets of teeth each year!
Go To Page: 1 2
