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Did you know?


Line of sharks

- That the Great White Shark is the only shark which is able to lift its head above the surface of the water and look for prey.

- That if you hold a shark, and pull it backwards, it will drown within minutes.

- That the Sand Tiger Shark is not able to close its mouth, because of its long and sharp teeth.

- That the Great White Shark, which can be more than 6 metres long and weight more than 2 tonnes, only has a brain at the size of a thumb.

- That 30 species of sharks are known to have attacked humans.

- That the Nurse Shark sucks meat out of shells and it crushes lobsters on the ocean bed.

- That the sense of smell of sharks is so important to sharks that two thirds of the brain is attached to the sense of smell.

- That language researchers think that shark has an origin in the Germen word schurke which means, something like, villain.

- That 1% of the species of fish in the world are sharks.

- That a Whale Shark can filter about 25,000 gal of water an hour.

- That sharks are colour blind, and they cannot swim backwards as other fish.

- That the Great White Shark has a biding strength at several tonnes a cm2 (several tonnes a sq inch).

- That an eight-year-old boy from Florida lost his arm to a Bull Shark, but the shark was captured and the boy's arm was sewn back on.

- That the Tiger Shark got its name on account the dots and stripes the young Tiger Sharks have. The dots and stripes will disappear by age.

- That it is illegal to sell jaws from the Great White Shark in South Africa and Australia.

- That Mega Mouth's name in Latin means: "big whole in the ocean".

- That you can follow the movements of sharks by placing small radio transmitters on the sharks' dorsal fin.

- That the seed development of Sand Tiger Sharks are cannibalism inside the uterus of the female shark. The first developed seed eats the lesser developed seeds, so only one young one is born from every uterus chamber.

- That a single Mako Shark in 37 days swam 1322 miles, which is 35 miles a day.

- That the largest fish in the world is the Whale Shark. The Whale Shark can become up to 53 ft. long and weight more than 13 tonnes.

- That a Saw Shark uses its snout to pierce its prey.

- That Wobbegong Sharks falls completely into the nature, when they lie in wait for prey, so it is nearly impossible to see them.

- That the skin of sharks has been used for shoes and drumhead.

- That Nurse Sharks is the most common shark in captivity, because the shark is easy to capture, transport and quite easy to keep alive.

- That only about five to ten shark attacks a year is fatal.

- That more sharks are killed for their fins than humans in the traffic.

- That Hammerhead Sharks swim in big shoals with up to 1100 sharks or more.

- That the Great White Shark is completely preserved in South Africa, Australia, in the Maldives, California and Namibia.

- That in Denmark, Piked Dogfish are sold under the name King Eel (if you translate it directly).

- That sharks can smell blood in the water at a distance of several miles.

- That a Tiger Shark was caught in the Mediterranean with three jackets and a raincoat in its stomach.

- That the Great White Shark can keep a body temperature that is more than 50oF higher than the surrounding water.

- That sharks can hear sounds in the water at a distance of several miles, but they cannot see more than 70 feet.

- That many of the known about 466 species of shark is only seen in very few or one specimen.

- That the Angel Shark can lay and wait for food on the ocean bed in a week.

- That the smallest shark in the world is called Parmaturus Campechiensis. It can maximum be 6 inches long and live at 3300 feet depth. It is a small Cat Shark.

- That Cookiecutter sharks got their name because they suck and hold onto large fish or animals and bite a piece of the animal which look like a cookie.

- That there is a difference in how many gill slits sharks have. There are sharks with 5, 6 or 7 gill slits.

- That the speed of a shark can be measured by attaching a small propeller on the shark's dorsal fin.

- That on the skin of sharks thousands of small 'skin teeth' can be found. In the past shark skin was used instead of sandpaper.

- That the last discovered shark species is called Glyphis Species B, and was discovered in Borneo on the 7th January 1998.

- That most of the big sharks have to move all the time, so they do not die of a lack of oxygen.

- That Epaulet Sharks crawl with their pectoral fins on the ocean bed in seek of food.

- That a marked Blue Shark was caught 16 month after it had been marked. When it was caught the second time the shark was 3720 miles from the place it had been marked.

- That sharks do not have an air bladder, but instead a big oleaginous liver which keep it floating.

- That sharks do not have a skeleton of bone, but the 'skeleton' of sharks is made of cartilage.

- That teeth of sharks break of and new ones appear. Sharks can change 20.000 teeth through their life.

- That sharks have been discovered in fossils that are 400,000,000 years old or 200,000,000 years older than the dinosaurs.

- That the tail of a Thresher Shark can be up to 8 ft. long.

- That the fastest shark is the Mako Shark, the Mako Shark can swim 46 miles an hour.

- That there are several shark species on the list of endangered species.

- That if the Great White Shark gets exterminated, the number of seals and sea lions will raise, the fish population which the fishermen catch will be heavily reduced.

- That by altering the magnetic field in the water, you can change the direction of the shark.

- That shark attacks on divers (by numbers) are not bigger today then 10 years ago, but the number of dives with sharks is a 100 times larger today.

- That shark cartilage is used to create artificial skin for humans.

- That the Great White Shark can swim with a speed of 16 miles an hour.

- That the Whale Shark also eats at night.

- That Rodney Orr is the only human who have survived a shark attack twice. (The attacks were in 1961 and 1992).

- That some deep-sea sharks and some night active sharks have a light reflective layer under their retina, so they can see better in the dark.

- That one of the first observed living sharks in its rightful environment was observed by the American William Beebe in the 1930's.

- That from 1990 to 1996 there were reports about 50 shark attacks a year throughout the world, only 7-8 was fatal.

- That the knowledge we had about shark until the 1980's, came primary from dead animals.

- That the Great White Shark can keep a temperature in the body that is 50oF higher than the water around the shark.

- That the 20th of April 2002 a Mega Mouth stranded on a coast in South Africa, that was number 17 of that species.

- That Leopard Shark, Nurse Sharks, Whitetip Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark and Tiger Sharks sleep in caves on the ocean bed.

- That when a sardine shoal hunts krill towards the surface, they make a lot of noise and Blue Sharks can hear and feel them from a long distance. Then the Blue Sharks seeks towards the place and eats the krill.


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