The ocean is full of surprises. If you’ve ever been on a boat and looked down into the water, you may have seen some enormous creatures swimming around. Maybe it was a whale or a dolphin, or it could have just been a kraken ready for a relaxing human hunting session. Who knows? But if you’re anything like us, you probably thought, “What else is down there?”
The answer is… lots of stuff we still don’t know anything about. More than 80% of the ocean remains unmapped, unexplored, and not even seen by humans. That’s because the intense pressures in the deep ocean make it an incredibly challenging environment to explore.
But one of the coolest (and scariest) things about what’s under the sea is still getting to know some interesting facts about all the different kinds of animals that live there, especially sharks! Sharks are fascinating creatures that have been around for 450 million years — that’s how old the first shark fossils are, making them older than dinosaurs — yet we still know very little about them.
If you think that sharks are nothing more than ocean-dwelling predators with a taste for human flesh (the Jaws franchise traumatized more than one generation), it’s time to get your shark facts straight! They’re undoubtedly mysterious and scary animals, but there’s so much to learn about them. Check out these shocking facts about sharks that even some experts may not know!
#1
Sharks can use the heartbeat of their prey to track them.
Image source: pbs.org
#2
Sharks don’t eat humans. Sharks are intelligent and curious creatures and most sharks bite humans out of curiosity and then swim away disinterested.
Image source: oceanservice.noaa.gov
#3
You’re more likely to get bit by an angry New Yorker than a shark.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#4
Sharks grow up to 50,000 teeth in a lifetime.
Image source: todayifoundout.com
#5
Shark embryos can sense danger.
Image source: journals.plos.org
#6
There are literal hundreds of sharks species.
Image source: elasmodiver.com
#7
Some sharks are pregnant for two years.
Image source: montereybayaquarium.org
#8
Sharks can sleep and often opt to keep their eyes open while they do. Because some sharks must swim constantly to keep oxygen-rich water flowing over their gills, it has long been rumored that they don’t snooze at all
Image source: britannica.com
#9
Sharks move unimaginable distances without rest.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com
#10
Great white sharks are at the top of the food chain and have little need to evolve.
Image source: britannica.com
#11
Until recently, sharks were thought to be immune to cancer. However, recent research proves that sharks do develop cancer, as well as a variety of illnesses and deformities.
Image source: livescience.com
#12
Bull sharks bite with the greatest force among sharks, pound-for-pound, greater even than great whites or hammerheads.
Image source: eu.usatoday.com
#13
Great whites do specialize in sneak attacks.
Image source: sharkresearchcommittee.com
#14
A shark’s vertebrae tells you its age.
Image source: ocean.si.edu
#15
Sharks have incredibly acute hearing.
Image source: animals.howstuffworks.com
#16
Sharks move both the top and bottom jaws.
Image source: csulb.edu
#17
Humans are by far the greatest enemy of sharks. 73 million sharks are killed by humans each year.
Image source: livescience.com
#18
Sharks can go into a trance.
Image source: sharktrust.org
#19
Sharks respond to a sound known as a “yummy hum”.
Image source: animals.howstuffworks.com
#20
Sharks have survived five massive planet extinction events. These extinction events killed most life on earth and the last one around 65 million yeas ago killed the dinosaurs.
Image source: newscientist.com
#21
Some sharks give birth to fully formed.
Image source: sharktrust.org
#22
Baby sharks are born with all of their teeth.
Image source: pdza.org
#23
No, not all sharks live in the ocean. Bull sharks are the most common species of shark found in freshwater, they only travel to a saltwater environment when they need to reproduce.
Image source: blueplanetaquarium.com
#24
Sharks used to be bigger than buildings.
Image source: fossilera.com
#25
Sharks have (way) more than one series of teeth.
Image source: science.org
#26
Sharks do not have vocal chords and do not use audible sounds to communicate anger or other emotions. Instead, they express themselves physically.
Image source: pbs.org
#27
Thresher sharks use their tails to slap their prey to death.
Image source: abc.net.au
#28
The Megalodon Shark, the largest shark predator in history, became extinct about 2.6 million years ago. They would have been between 12 and 21 meters long!
Image source: livescience.com
#29
Sharks breathe by ram ventilation, a process that forces water into their mouths and across the gills as they swim forward.
Image source: britannica.com
#30
Rays (Batoidea) are the largest group of cartilaginous fishes, with well over 600 species in 26 families.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#31
Possibly one of the most beautiful sharks in the world is the Zebra Shark. This shark goes through an amazing transformation from juvenile shark to an adult.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#32
There are 10 species of known Hammerhead sharks with one just recently discovered in 2016 called the Carolina Hammerhead Shark.
Image source: sc.edu
#33
Shark spotters make beaches safer for swimmers and sharks.
Image source: science.uct.ac.za
#34
Female sharks generally dwarf male sharks.
Image source: wwf.ca
#35
Lightning strikes are more deadly than shark attacks.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#36
Sharks are older than dinosaurs.
Image source: livescience.com
#37
The skin on whale sharks is six inches thick.
Image source: elasmo-research.org
#38
30% of sharks are close to extinction.
Image source: blogs.scientificamerican.com
#39
Shark teeth are immune to cavities.
Image source: caringdentists.com
#40
Great white sharks use body language to communicate with one another.
Image source: animalscosmos.com
#41
A shark’s weak spot is its gills.
Image source: nytimes.com
#42
Sharks have different eye colors.
Image source: coralworldvi.com
#43
Some shark skin glows green.
Image source: sciencedaily.com
#44
Great white sharks only have two blind spots.
Image source: animals.howstuffworks.com
#45
Male blue sharks bite their partners while mating.
Image source: sharksider.com
#46
The Greenland shark is the only species that can tolerate Arctic temperatures.
Image source: geerg.ca
#47
Shark “ears” are located inside their head.
Image source: sharktrust.org
#48
Some sharks can swim up to 60 km per hour.
Image source: sharksider.com
#49
One of the earliest known species of sharks is the Cladoselache. The fossils of these 1.2 meter sharks are over 400 million years old.
Image source: britannica.com
#50
Stethacanthus was a shark that lived 345 to 280 million years ago. This shark possessed a fascinating dorsal fin that was flat and covered in large scales.
Image source: seaworld.org
#51
Helicoprion sharks from 290 million years ago had a strange ‘whorl like’ jaw structure that carried hundreds of shark teeth. A special set of hunting tools to hunt specific prey.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com
#52
Sharks’ skeletons are made entirely of cartilage, an elastic tissue that is much softer than bones.
Image source: fieldmuseum.org
#53
The size of a shark species relates to where they hunt. Smaller sharks tend to feed near the ocean floor. Larger sharks hunt in the middle depths and near the surface where they can more easily snatch larger prey such as seals.
#54
Depending on the species, sharks display three ways to bear their young:
1) Oviparity = laying eggs.
2) viviparity = born alive & functional.
3) ovoviviparity = Eggs hatch inside the adult female and sharks are born alive.
Image source: envhumanities.sites.gettysburg.edu
#55
Sharks belong to the superorder Selachimorpha in the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes.
Image source: newworldencyclopedia.org
#56
The Carcharhiniformes order contains about 270 species of sharks.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#57
The Six Gilled Frilled Shark lives thousands of meters below the ocean surface. The first time this shark was recorded alive on film was in 2007 when a specimen was caught in Japan.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#58
Cookiecutter Sharks have the largest teeth of all sharks relative to their size.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#59
Shark finning refers to the removal and retention of shark fins while the body of the shark is discarded at sea. The shark is most often still alive when it is tossed back in to the water.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#60
Only 3 sharks have an international ban in fishing. They are the Whale Shark, Basking Shark and Great White Shark. A number of other sharks have restrictions on international trade market but clearly more is needed to protect sharks globally.
Image source: awionline.org
#61
Hammerheads also have 360-degree vision.
Image source: livescience.com
#62
The largest fish in the world is whale shark.
Image source: amnh.org
#63
Hippos, deer, and cows are more deadly than sharks, too.
Image source: treehugger.com
#64
Tiger sharks will eat anything.
Image source: oceana.org
#65
Sharks can be as small as a goldfish. The dwarf lantern shark is hardly one of the fierce creatures you picture when you hear the word “shark.” This odd animal, found near the northern coast of South America, grows to just six inches in length.
Image source: ocean.si.edu
#66
There’s a shark that’s 120 million years old. While megalodons are long gone, there is a species still around that was alive long before the megs — the goblin shark, a pink-skinned fish with a crazy-looking long and flat snout.
Image source: animals.howstuffworks.com
#67
Each whale shark’s spot pattern is unique as a fingerprint.
Image source: worldwildlife.org
#68
Most sharks hunt alone.
Image source: sharks-world.com
#69
Sharks sometimes act as scavengers and will often feed on dead animals such as whales. This is how sharks help keep our oceans healthy and marine life in check.
Image source: education.nationalgeographic.org
#70
Sharks help to make sure that reefs are protected from other predators to ensure the reef, and all the fish that live on and around the reef, thrive as an important ecosystem.
Image source: europe.oceana.org
#71
More than 90% of shark attacks even from Great White Sharks on humans are non-fatal.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#72
In 2015 more people were killed by taking selfie images of themselves in situations that proved fatal, than people fatally injured by sharks in that same year.
Image source: sciencealert.com
#73
Hammerheads, Blue sharks, Bull Sharks and Lemon sharks are just a few sharks that are born fully developed and functional. This is called Viviparity birth for these sharks.
Image source: sharksinfo.com
#74
The worlds second largest living shark can be found around the UK and Ireland, the Basking Shark.
Image source: oceana.org
#75
The megamouth shark is a species of deepwater shark. It is rarely seen by humans and is the smallest of the three filter feeding sharks alongside the whale shark and basking shark.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#76
Female sharks have thicker skin.
Image source: sharktrust.org
#77
Lemon Sharks are not only adorable, they also give birth to live young! While most Lemons get about 10 feet, the largest was over 12 feet long.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#78
Shark embryos attack each other.
Image source: livescience.com
#79
Sharks have a sixth sense.
Image source: georgiaaquarium.org
#80
Yes, you can ride a shark.
Image source: abc7.com
#81
Female sharks can be impregnated by multiple partners at once.
Image source: blog.csiro.au
#82
Great whites have a keen nose for blood.
Image source: animals.howstuffworks.com
#83
Sharks manage to avoid stopping to eat by drawing on fat stored in their livers.
Image source: royalsocietypublishing.org
#84
Some species of sharks have a spiracle that allows them to pull water into their respiratory system while at rest. Most sharks have to keep swimming to pump water over their gills.
Image source: livescience.com
#85
Not all sharks have the same teeth. Mako sharks have very pointed teeth, while white sharks have triangular, serrated teeth.
Image source: fisheries.noaa.gov
#86
There are more than 500 species of sharks swimming in the world’s ocean.
Image source: ocean.si.edu
#87
Possibly one of the most evolved sharks today are hammerhead sharks. They have an advanced sensory system and a body shape that has adapted to hunt specific prey.
Image source: livescience.com
#88
Killer whales, seals and even giant octopus have been known to eat sharks.
Image source: seaworld.org
#89
Larger sharks do eat smaller sharks.
#90
Almost 50 different species of sharks have light-emitting organs called photospheres. Sharks use the light that comes from these organs for camouflage and to attract mates.
Image source: ocean.si.edu
#91
A membrane in the back of the eye called the tapetum lucidum reflects sunlight back into the eye, so the shark can make more use of what little light is there.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#92
Sharks such as the Great White and Mako sharks are homeothermic and maintain a higher body temperature than the surrounding water. Muscles in the center of the body provides extra heat for bursts of speed when hunting.
Image source: sharksinfo.com
#93
To impregnate female sharks, male sharks will bite onto the pectoral fin and then insert one of his claspers into the female shark to release sperm.
Image source: saveourseas.com
#94
There are a number of “sharky” looking animals in the ocean that are actually rays, not sharks. Examples are the Guitar fish and the Bow Mouth Ray.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#95
The Whale Shark is so far the deepest diving recorded shark. One shark was measured down to a depth of around 1,800 meters below the ocean surface, almost two kilometers!
Image source: livescience.com
#96
Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been left or lost in the ocean by fishermen. Unfortunately all kinds of marine life are threatened by these ghost nets and many sharks are killed each year due to them.
Image source: worldwildlife.org
#97
Marine debris, especially plastic, is extremely dangerous for sharks, whales and turtles. These creatures often end up ingesting plastic items which will eventually be fatal.
Image source: conserveturtles.org
#98
Shark tourism is a form of eco-tourism that allows people to dive with sharks in their natural environment. This benefits local shark populations by educating tourists and through funds raised by the shark tourism industry.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#99
A shark’s fusiform rounded and tapering at both ends body shape reduces drag and requires minimum energy to swim.
Image source: seaworld.org
#100
Bull shark jaws work like a vice.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#101
Sharks do not “prefer” to bite males rather than females; rather men had a greater historical chance of being around sharks.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#102
The ocean floor is a graveyard for shark teeth.
Image source: coastalexpeditions.com
#103
We have more in common with them than you’d think. Since both humans and sharks are jawed vertebrates, we share a common ancestor – Acanthodes bronni.
Image source: bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com
#104
Sharks heat their eyes.
Image source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
#105
Sharks mate at their birthplace.
Image source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com
#106
Shark skin makes them fast.
Image source: journals.biologists.com
#107
Most sharks have good eyesight.
Image source: coralworldvi.com
#108
Sharks have special electroreceptor organs.
Image source: sharktrust.org
#109
Shark skin feels similar to sandpaper.
Image source: sharksinfo.com
#110
Blue sharks are really blue.
Image source: dfo-mpo.gc.ca
#111
Human teeth as hard as shark teeth.
Image source: science.org
#112
Different shark species reproduce in different ways.
Image source: sharktrust.org
#113
Sharks can detect electricity.
Image source: nih.gov
#114
Female sharks lose their appetite before giving birth.
#115
Great white sharks eat 11 tons of food each year.
Image source: animals.howstuffworks.com
#116
Scientists think sharks may be color blind.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com
#117
Some sharks have what is called a Nictitating membrane that closes to protect the eye when she shark bites its prey.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#118
A sharks tooth-shaped skin, called denticles, allow it to move swiftly through the water without collecting barnacles and algae deposits on it.
Image source: ocean.si.edu
#119
Some shark species are oviparous like most other fish, laying their eggs in the water. Once empty, the egg case is known as a mermaid’s purse and can wash up on shore.
Image source: nhm.ac.uk
#120
A shark creates forward movement by moving its tail, which acts like a propeller. As the shark moves forward, water moves over its fins as though they were wings, creating lift.
Image source: animals.howstuffworks.com
#121
Shark mouths are located in front of the eyes or front of the head, therefore Carpet Sharks Zebra Sharks, Nurse Sharks.
Image source: sharksider.com
#122
Commonly known as Mackerel Sharks, Goblin Shark, Basking Shark, Megamouth Shark, Thresher Sharks, Shortfin and Longfin Mako sharks, and the Great White Shark belong to the Lamniformes order.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#123
The fastest shark in the world is none other than the short fin Mako shark. It can clock in at speeds of 60 mph (96 mph).
Image source: sharksider.com
#124
The Whale Shark can take up to 30 years to reach maturity and start breeding. The Greenland shark was recently discovered to take even longer to reach the point of maturity: up to 150 years!
Image source: fish.wa.gov.au
#125
And it’s strongest in hammerheads.
Image source: treehugger.com
#126
Great whites have a more powerful bite than jungle cats.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com
#127
Megalodons sparked some media controversy. The fascination around these legendary creatures earned some backlash for the Discovery Channel in 2013 when it aired a mockumentary with actors pretending to be scientists discussing the long-extinct animals as if they still existed.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com
#128
Sharks have scales.
Image source: ocean.si.edu
#129
Sharks are the apex predators.
Image source: savethesharksorg.com
#130
Angel sharks can ambush their prey in one-tenth of one second.
Image source: saveourseas.com
#131
Large sharks live longer than smaller sharks.
Image source: oceanservice.noaa.gov
#132
When sharks jump out of the water, it’s called a “breach”.
Image source: ocean.si.edu
#133
Ancient Greek historian Herodotus claimed a group of sharks destroyed a Persian fleet in the 5th century B.C., which may have been the first time sharks received a negative and killer reputation.
Image source: sharkattacks.com
#134
Sharks have a lateral line organ which acts like an internal barometer.
Image source: britannica.com
#135
Male sharks have reproductive organs called Claspers. These organs are located on the Pelvic fins of all male sharks and rays as extensions of the fin.
Image source: sciencedirect.com
#136
Sharks do have an anal fin.
Image source: sharks.org
#137
One order of sharks belongs to the 6 Gill Sharks and the Seven Gill Sharks Hexanchiformes only.
Image source: encyclopedia.com
#138
A shark species that has an order to itself are the Horn Sharks. These are bottom dwelling sharks with a spine in front of their dorsal fin to protect themselves from larger predators. Sometimes this includes protection from other sharks.
Image source: sciencedirect.com
#139
The basking shark are one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#140
The Goblin Shark has the reputation of being the ugliest shark in the world. They are a rare deep water species that have an extending jaw to snap and capture prey in the oceans depths.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#141
Wobbegong Sharks possibly have the best camouflage of all sharks. Their symmetrical pattern of bold markings resembles a carpet. Because of this striking pattern, wobbegongs and their close relatives are often referred to as carpet sharks.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#142
Pacific Sleeper Shark known to eat giant and colossal squids.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#143
You’ve probably eaten shark. Spiny dogfish are not in demand as a food item in the United States, but they’re popular on the international market.
Image source: fisheries.noaa.gov
#144
Shark litters are enormous.
Image source: mass.gov
#145
A great white is about the size of a megalodon’s.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com
#146
Most sharks are cold blooded.
Image source: floridamuseum.ufl.edu
#147
Sharks have evolved and changed much over millions of years. However many sharks today still share some of the features as sharks from millions of years ago.
Image source: nhm.ac.uk
#148
Sharks are APEX predators. At the top of the ocean food chain they directly impact all other marine species below them, maintaining a balance in the ecosystem.
Image source: livescience.com
#149
One third of all living shark species are classed between Near Threatened (NT) and Critically Endangered (CR) by the IUCN Red List.
Image source: iucnredlist.org
#150
Shark fin soup is a fashion in China and many Asian countries. It is served at important events like weddings, birthdays and anniversaries. When dried, the fins take on a texture and shape similar to noodles.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#151
An unusual favorite meal of Mako Sharks is Swordfish.
Image source: sharksider.com
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