Facts about Sharks

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Did you Know? List of Interesting Facts about Sharks
Facts are statements which are held to be true and often contrasted with opinions and beliefs. Our unusual and interesting facts about Sharks, trivia and information, including some useful statistics will fascinate everyone from kids and children to adults.

Interesting Facts about Sharks are as follows:

  • Fact 1 - Definition: Sharks are a type of carnivorous fish found in all seas and oceans. Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch fishes of the order Plagiostomi

  • Fact 2 - The first sharks appeared more than 420 million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs
  • Fact 3 - Some sharks, as the basking shark and the whale shark, grow to an enormous size, the the basking shark becoming forty feet or more, and the whale shark sixty feet or more, in length
  • Fact 4 - Most sharks are harmless to man, but some are man-eating
  • Fact 5 - There are approx 440 species of sharks including the:
    • Great White Shark
    • Tiger Shark (Endangered species)
    • Whale Shark
    • Bull Shark
    • Hammerhead Shark
    • Blue Shark
    • Lemon Shark
    • Basking Shark
    • Megamouth Shark
    • Goblin Shark
    • Mako Shark
    • Angel Shark
  • Fact 6 - Ichthyology describes the branch of zoology devoted to fish (including sharks)
  • Fact 7 - Great white sharks can grow up to 12 feet and weight more than 1,000 pounds
  • Fact 8 - Shark senses are highly efficient and well developed to help them survive in their environment
  • Fact 9 - Although sharks are loners, they have the intelligence to communicate and use different forms of communication
  • Fact 10 - Sharks are loners and shark pups have to take care of themselves as soon as they are born
  • Fact 11 - A Shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, which is a tough, fibrous substance, not nearly as hard as bone
  • Fact 12 - Sharks do not have a single bone in their bodies
  • Fact 13 - Most shark attacks occur less than 100 feet from the shore
  • Fact 14 - For every human killed by a shark, humans kill 2 million sharks
  • Fact 15 - The megamouth was not discovered until 1976 - its mouth can reach up to three feet wide and the body is approx 16 feet long. Only fourteen megamouths have ever been seen
  • Fact 16 - The smallest shark is the dwarf lantern shark - it is only 7 inches long
  • Fact 17 - The longest shark is the whale shark, which can grow to 50 feet long and weigh more than 40,000 pounds
  • Fact 18 - Peter Benchley wrote Jaws which was made into a movie in 1975 - people became terrified of sharks and would not go into the water for fear of them
  • Fact 19 - Indians in Florida used the teeth of Great White sharks as arrowheads
  • Fact 20 - Sharks are divided into eight orders including:
    • Hexanchiformes - including the Cow shark and Frilled shark
    • Squaliformes - including the Dogfish shark, bramble shark, roughshark, and prickly shark
    • Pristiophoriformes - Saw sharks
    • Squatiniformes - Angel Sharks
    • Heterodontiformes - Bullhead sharks
    • Orectolobiformes - including the Carpet shark, zebra shark, and whale shark
    • Carcharhiniformes - Hammerhead shark, tiger shark, catshark, bull shark, and hound shark
    • Lamniformes - including the Great White shark, mackerel shark, mako shark, and sand tiger shark

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