Sharks, Predators of the Sea

Sharks are ancient animals. They’ve been on earth for at least 420 million years.

Sharks, unlike most fish, don’t have bones, but cartilage, which is a soft, muscular substance. it.

They have several rows of teeth and might have as many as 3,000 teeth in their mouths at one time. When one tooth falls out, another one moves forward to replace it.

Sharks can range in size from tiny to as big as a bus. The spined pygmy shark grows only 7 inches long, while the whale shark can reach over 50 feet long. Most sharks are about the same size as a human, or slightly larger.

All sharks are meat eaters. Small sharks eat plankton, small animals and shellfish. Large sharks eat fish, sea lions and seals.

There are as many as 500 different shark types in our waters. New species get discovered every year. Fossils found over time suggest that millions of years ago there may have been over 3000 different shark species, this would have been when water levels where much higher and the climate warmer.